Following the success of our other WWII love story, DEAR HEART, Agelink Theatre is excited to present this fascinating collection of letters and diaries in a new play, CIS AND BARBICHE, which illustrates the excitement, the commitment and the effort involved with a wartime love affair, as well as the maturing of two young people who endeavour to keep their hope and humanity alive in the face of so much suffering.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Francis
(Cis)
"War makes men out of boys too soon."
Barbara
(Barbiche)
"War throws you together then tears you apart."
CIS AND BARBICHE
Artwork by e-type design
With music by Nikki Dagostino
70 years ago in 1944 in WWII Liverpool, 19 year old Barbara Rigby fell in love with a young French airman, Francis Usai . Francis was fighting in a squadron allied to the RAF and training to be a gunner on Halifax Bombers flying out of Elvington, near York. “Cis”, as he was called by his family, wrote dozens of letters to his “Barbiche”, wonderful letters - lively, passionate, funny, and poetic. Barbara, meanwhile, kept an informative daily diary of her life in wartime England. She has lived in Perth WA for the past 50 years, but remembers that time in her youth as “brightly coloured”.
CIS AND BARBICHE has been invited for a season at the prestigious York Theatre Royal (UK) in July, to coincide with the start of the Tour de France in York.
In 1944 Francis wrote:
"In seventy years, they will talk about Barbiche, who saw England invaded by all those odd strangers who stole young girls' hearts."
In 2014 that prediction will come true.
Be the first to see the production at our 2014 launch in Perth (AUS) on March 1st.
LETTERS AND DIARIES EDITED BY:
Genevieve Monneris - Maker of video documentaries on the French Squadrons in RAF Bomber Command. Winner Best Documentary, 2012 London Imperial War Museum Film Festival, for "De Lourds Souvenirs", about her father's aircrew.
TRANSLATED BY:
Michel Darribehaude - Senior Lecturer, Toulon University France.
PERTH WA:
Venue: State Library of WA Theatre
Dates: Sat March 1st 2014
Time: 11am and 2pm
Cost: AU$30 full AU$25 conc
BOOKINGS: admin@agelink.com.au
Venue: State Library of WA Theatre
Dates: Sat April 26th 2014
Time: 10:30am
Cost:
BOOKINGS: admin@agelink.com.au
YORK UK:
Venue: York Theatre Royal
Dates: July 3rd – 5th 2014
Time: 7.45pm (Sat matinee 2pm)
Cost: £12 full £10 conc
BOOKINGS: www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk