AGELINK Theatre's young cast have travelled all the way from Perth, Western Australia to perform the poignant wartime romance of Cis And Barbiche at York Theatre Royal to mark the 70th anniversary of the French Air Force's arrival in Yorkshire and Le Grand Départ for the 2014 Tour de France.
The play by Agelink director and founder Jenny Davis is based on the true story of the love affair between airman Francis 'Cis' Usai, on his way to join the French squadrons at RAF Elvington, and Barbara 'Barbiche' Rigby, the girl he meets on arrival in Liverpool in transit to training. During their relationship, 2,000 items of correspondence and photographs passed between them, telling the story of a young couple in love, caught up in the horrors of war.
Davis has adapted and re-imagined their Second World War love story after the chance finding of an old photograph showing a young woman surrounded by three French airmen, which led to Cis's letters and Barbiche's diary being discovered by the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington. They were then brought together by Genevieve Monneris, herself the daughter of a French airman in Cis's squadron.
Davis and her cast arrived in York earlier this week for final rehearsals for performances in the Studio from tonight until Saturday that feature Mark Desebrock as Frenchman Cis, Jo Morris as Barbiche and Alinta Carroll in various roles.
The play has been commissioned by the Yorkshire Air Museum to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the formation of RAF Elvington’s French Squadrons and also coincides with the build-up to Le Grand Départ this weekend.
The Elvington anniversary fell earlier this week, on July 1, 70 years to the day since two French Squadrons began combined operations from the Yorkshire airfield in support of the Allied advance through France, bombing their own homeland.
The cast is completed by musician Nikki Dagostino, fresh from the muddy fields of the Glastonbury Festival, where she performed with her cabaret group The Sirens. Nikki will provide accordion accompaniment to bring a French feel to the play.
Performances start at 7.45pm tonight and tomorrow and at 2pm and 7.45pm on Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
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