Brigida Desebrock

Seventy years ago in 1944 in Liverpool, Barbara Rigby, aged 19, fell in love with a young airman, Francis Usai, who was fighting in WWII in a squadron allied to the RAF and training to be a gunner on Halifax Bombers. “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.
Jenny Davis, Artistic Director of Agelink Theatre, has created a play that tells their story based on the resource material and interviews with Barbara.
For more information about the project please click here.
After a launch in Perth in March the company has been invited to perform 'Cis and Barbiche' at the prestigious York Theatre Royal UK for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in York in July.
The play stars a talented West Australian cast: Jo Morris, Mark Desebrock and Alinta Carroll with live music by Nikki Dagostino.
Agelink Theatre Inc is celebrating 21 years of producing professional theatre based on oral histories and affirming the value of West Australian seniors. The opportunity to appear at a festival celebrating one of the most important sporting events on the international calendar allows us to wave the flag for the West Australian arts scene.

The Yorkshire Air Museum has raised funds to cover the UK production costs for the play Cis and Barbiche. Agelink Theatre is seeking financial support to contribute towards the airfares for the creative team to get to the UK. The entire travel budget totals $10,400.00 for air and ground transport.
Our goal of $4000 will cover two of the five airfares. Any funds received over this amount will be put towards the cost of flying the rest of the team over.

The challenge for this project is to raise much needed funds for travel to York, UK. Agelink Theatre are also looking at fundraising possibilities in the community such as raffles, quiz nights etc. Any excess funds will be used for a Perth Season in 2015.