'Offerings and Exchange' by Theresa Lola: a poem for 70 Years of the Royal Festival Hall

Commissioned and opened as a centrepiece for the post war Festival of Britain, the Royal Festival Hall has remained as a landmark venue on the South Bank.

Playing host to artistic highlights and heavyweights, and the venue for memories poignant and personal, we’ve been a fixture of London life for seven decades.

To celebrate this anniversary we commissioned poet Theresa Lola to write a poem for the hall, taking inspiration from its architecture and archives. The result is ‘Offerings and Exchange’, which you can enjoy here in a special short film by Florence Creffield.