Posting Letters to the Moon to visit Bath's Ustinov Studio

Posting Letters to the Moon brings to life wartime letters, written by actress Celia Johnson and her husband Peter Fleming, read by their daughter Lucy Fleming with Simon Williams at Bath’s Ustinov Studio. 

Lucy Fleming (Survivors, Wycliffe, The Archers) and Simon Williams (Upstairs Downstairs, Don’t Wait Up, The Archers) bring Posting Letters to the Moon to the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath, with four performances over the Bank Holiday Easter weekend, from Thursday 6 to Saturday 8 April.

Oscar-nominated actress Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter, In Which We Serve, This Happy Breed, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) and her explorer and writer husband Peter Fleming (brother of James Bond creator Ian) wrote to each other whilst they were apart during the Second World War. In this entertaining show, their daughter Lucy Fleming and her husband Simon Williams – who both have an abundance of stage and television credits to their name - read the cherished wartime letters, revealing a fascinating portrait of life in the 1940s.

October 2nd 1944:
“I had lunch with Mr Coward who read me his new film that he wants me to be in. There is no getting away from the fact that it is a very good part and one I should like to play… It’s about a woman, married and with two children who meets by chance a man in a railway waiting room and they fall in love. And It’s All No Good.”

Amongst the intriguing stories revealed in their correspondence, Celia Johnson writes about coping with a large isolated house full of evacuated children; becoming an auxiliary police-woman in Henley-on-Thames; learning to drive a tractor and dealing with rationing; occasional holidays in Cornwall, where she took to surfing; and all the while accepting offers to act, when she could get away, working with David Lean and Noël Coward. In the wartime films they made together, Celia’s roles included starring as Ethel Gibbons in This Happy Breed, Mrs Alix Kinross in In Which We Serve and Laura Jesson in the legendary Brief Encounter. Meanwhile, Peter Fleming, who was away for most of the War, writes to Celia about his adventures and trials working on deception in India and the Far East. 

Amusing, romantic and very touching, not only are the letters - shared by Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams - highly engaging; they also provide a fascinating historical insight into a time of true austerity and fearfulness.

Posting Letters to the Moon appears at the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 6 to Saturday 8 April. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on +44 (0)1225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov.