The Tunnels of Love Project

Andrew McKinnon and Martin Lewton

Brighton, like many cities, has a network of ancient tunnels connecting up its buildings – some real, some imagined.

The focus of these tunnels in Brighton is the Royal Pavilion. Among the several tunnels beginning and ending here are a well documented one connecting the Pavilion with its stables (The Dome), a much conjectured tunnel between the Prince Regent’s residence and that of his lover, Mrs Fitzherbert and even more intriguingly an underground passage to the Marlborough Hotel, then a brothel.

The Tunnels of Love Project plans to use these mysterious and changing connections to explore the equally mysterious and changing sexualities which exist below and above ground.

Physically several manifestations of the project are being explored: opaque poly tunnel, some six feet wide and 30 feet long with audience/participants encountering a range of sensory experiences when as they pass through the tunnel; using existing underground spaces – tunnels, old public lavatories, cellars; creating access to an imagined subterranean passage eg road works. The project will be facilitated by Lewton as performer following a period of development work.

McKinnon and Lewton have recently collaborated on three highly successful projects: LORD ARTHUR’S BED (winner best actor Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2009) NAKED HOMO (shortlisted for NWS award Brighton Festival Fringe 2010) and BILLY BUDD SAILOR (Latest Star of the Festival Award 2011)