Tickets are selling fast for a unique event that will bring to life touching wartime correspondence between Brief Encounter star Celia Johnson and her husband Peter Fleming.
Letters to the Moon, which is being staged by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust at the RAF Club in London’s Piccadilly, is a moving production that reveals the close relationship between the star of the classic 1945 film and journalist and writer Peter Fleming OBE during their war-enforced separation.
This exclusive event, which will be followed by a hot supper, is being staged on Thursday 30 October to raise much-needed funds for the charity that honours the memory of Churchill’s ‘Few’.
The correspondence between Johnson and her husband is dramatised by actress Lucy Fleming, Celia Johnson’s daughter, and Simon Williams, who, among other top roles, starred as Sir Humphrey in the stage adaptation of the much-loved Yes, Prime Minister.
Written shortly before Johnson went on to star in the classic black and white film, the correspondence outlines her wartime experiences, from running a large, isolated house full of evacuated children and learning to drive a tractor to coping with rationing and becoming an auxiliary policewoman.
Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Brief Encounter and went on to enjoy an acting career that spanned more than 50 years. She won a BAFTA for her portrayal of the headmistress in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Peter Fleming OBE was one of the great travel writers of the 20th century, having begun his reporting career as a special correspondent with the Times. He served with the Grenadier Guards during world war two and, from 1942, was in charge of military deception operations in Southeast Asia. The couple had married in 1935.
This unique production promises to be an unmissable event in the unique surroundings of the RAF Club, and early booking is advised. Tickets, at just £85 including supper, can be booked by calling Patrick Tootal on 01732 870809 or emailing battleofbritain@btinternet.com
