Dot and Billy, an original performed reading of letters from the First World War between Dot French and Billy Burditt, is performed at Aberystwyth Arts Centre this week.

Dot, a student at Aberystwyth, meets Billy when he arrives with the Royal Cheshire Regiment to train for the Western Front in 1915.

Friendship leads to exchanges of letters when Billy is sent to France.

The letters are full of vivid detail about their thoughts, experiences, and hopes.

Their friendship gradually becomes something stronger, and they have to learn how to love at a distance in dangerous and uncertain times.

The piece was written using letters from the collection of Tom James, lent by Jane Bradly, to the Aberystwyth at War: Experience, Impact, Legacy 1914-1919 Project.

Calista Williams and Patrick Kavanagh take on the roles of Dot and Billy, and the production is directed by Richard Hogger, who co-wrote with Tom O’Malley.

Calista said: “The exceptional thing about this piece of theatre is that Dot and Billy are real people, attempting to navigate a new relationship in the midst of a world war.”

Richard said: “These are wonderful letters. Working with Calista and Patrick to for this performed reading has been a great pleasure. They bring the letters, and the people who wrote them, alive in a truly powerful and sensitive way.”

The Aberystwyth at War HLF-funded project has been commemorating the end of the First World War with a series of events. Led by research done by project volunteers and based on donated archive material, the project has been gathering, preserving and presenting stories of what life was like in wartime Aberystwyth 100 years ago.

Dot and Billy will be in the Round Studio, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, on Thursday and Friday, 16 and 17 May, at 7.45pm.

The Thursday performance will be followed by a Q&A session with the writers, actors and Jane Bradly.

The project would like to thank the players of the National Lottery for making this possible.

Future project events include guided walks, talks and a concert of First World War music performed by local children at Ceredigion Museum.

For information about volunteering or about the project, get in touch with Sian Nicholas on [email protected] or Kate Sullivan on [email protected].

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