Performance: Posting Letters to the Moon

An evening of wartime letters between the actress Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter) and her husband Peter Fleming read by Lucy Fleming (their daughter) and Simon Williams.

These touching and amusing letters from Celia to her husband tell of her experiences during the war – from coping with a large isolated house full of evacuated children, learning to drive a tractor, dealing with rationing, becoming an auxiliary police-woman in Henley-on-Thames, and all the while accepting offers, when she could get away, to act – for David Lean, Noel Coward, in wartime propaganda films, broadcasts, all sorts, and ultimately in 1945 starring in the classic film Brief Encounter for which she was Oscar-nominated. Peter Fleming was away for most of the war - he writes about his adventures and trials working on deception in India and the Far East.

Not only are the letters highly engaging, but they also provide a fascinating historical insight into that time of true austerity and fearfulness.