Kisses on a Postcard

The big finale. GIs depart for D-Day, leaving Elsie pregnant. Meanwhile, Auntie Rose and Uncle Jack learn some terrible news about their son, Gwyn. Jack and Terry return home to London.Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe, Evie Hoskins, Brandon McGuiness and Frankie Joel-Celoni . Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Terry comes top of the whole school. Jack and Terry fight. Elsie is seduced by one of the GIsIncludes the songs You’re Not Thick, Country Bumpkins and Sweet Nightingale. Starring Katy Secombe, Lance Ellington and Evelyn Hoskins. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Soldiers come to the village. There is a camp concert. 5-year old Teddy Willis is killed. Terry gets caned. Then the Americans arrive. A whole regiment of black GIs.Includes the songs Sweet Sixteen, Bless ‘Em All and Got Any Gum, Chum?Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe, Brandon McGuiness and Frankie Joel-Celoni. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

The Germans bomb Plymouth. Jack, Terry and Auntie Rose take shelter in a subway. Plus the meaning of “dreckly” - Cornish for mañana.Includes the songs Abide with Me and There’s a War On.Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe, Brandon McGuiness and Frankie Joel-Celoni. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Terry misses out on a circus trip. Rommel is defeated in North Africa at El Alamein. And Terry and Jack learn about Uncle Jack’s experiences in the trenches in WWI. Includes the songs Come All Ye Jolly Tinner Boys, the Ash Grove and Hole in Ground. Starring John Owen-Jones, Simon Thomas, Brandon McGuiness and Frankie Joel-Celoni. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Jack saves Terry’s life in the lead up to the big showdown between the Vackies and village kids.Includes the song England’s Bells.Starring John Owen-Jones, Brandon McGuiness, Frankie Joel-Celoni and James Clyde. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Punching cows, letters home to mum and the facts of life are among Terry’s adventures in this episode, part 4 of Kisses on a Postcard. Plus Jack, Terry, Elsie and Frank Emmet attempt to steal Granny Peters’ gooseberries. Includes the songs Dearest Mum and (the astonishingly beautiful). There Was An Old Lady. Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe, Evie Hoskins, Daisy Mortimer and Marcia Warren. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, the intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Upheaval in the village as the vackies and local kids meet for the first time.Meanwhile, Gwyn goes off to war.Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe and Ian Virgo. Adapted, directed and produced by Dominic Frisby. Includes the Gwyn Goodbye song.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here.Kisses on a Postcard, this intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII - Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, who, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Jack and Terry meet their new parents, Auntie Rose and Uncle Jack.Contains the title track Kisses on a Postcard, plus Just Remember.Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe and Rosie Cavaliero.Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here or get the rest of the show on Bandcamp.Kisses on a Postcard, the “profoundly moving” musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII, Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, as they are evacuated from their family in London to a tiny village in Cornwall. Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

Terry and Jack (aged 7 and 11) say goodbye to Mum and Dad.Along with the rest of the of their school, they set off by train. Nobody knows where they are going or who’ll they be staying with, but they end up in a tiny village in Cornwall. Starring John Owen-Jones, Katy Secombe and Rosie Cavaliero.Get first edition CDs here. Kisses on a Postcard, this intensely moving musical by Terence Frisby, tells the story of two boys in WWII. In 1940, Terry and Jack, aged seven and eleven, to escape German bombing, are evacuated from their family in south-east London to a tiny village in Cornwall, where they spend the next four years.Full of surprising humour and memorable songs, this is unique portrait of an extraordinary time in British history.“Enchanting, profoundly moving and delightful,” Charles Spencer, the Telegraph. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com

In an illustrious career which included the longest-running comedy in the history of the West End, a hit film with Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn, one of ITV’s most successful sitcoms of the 1970s, another of ITV’s most successful sitcoms of the 1980s, awards and fortunes, made and lost, my father, Terence Frisby regarded Kisses on a Postcard as the best thing he ever wrote. I couldn’t agree more. It has everything.Kisses began in 1988 as a radio play, Just Remember Two Things: It’s Not Fair And Don’t Be Late, a series of reminiscences about Dad’s experiences as an evacuee during World War Two. BBC Radio broadcast the play ten times, creating some sort of record, and it received the biggest audience response that anyone in the BBC Radio Drama department could remember. It won the Giles Cooper Award for Best Radio Play and was mentioned critically in the same breath as Under Milk Wood and Cider With Rosie. It was then optioned to be a film, where it got stuck in development hell for fifteen years, and the film was never made. Dad’s close friend Jeremy James Taylor, founder of the National Youth Musical Theatre, meanwhile, had been nagging him to turn it into a stage musical and a chance encounter on a golf course in 2002 was the catalyst. I’ve had the theatre shoved down my throat since an early age, but against all expectation this tiny community theatre project at the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, North Devon, with mostly amateur performers, and a little known Welsh actor by the name of Derek Crewe in the main role, was the best thing I ever saw in the theatre. I remember saying to Dad at the time, even if nothing more ever happens with this, you can go to your grave knowing that no one else has ever done that to a room. We tried for many years to raise the three million pounds we needed to bring it to the West End, but then ran into the global financial crisis. I remember giving a presentation one evening in Mayfair at a billionaire’s club. There were more than 20 billionaires in the room. It was 6th of October 2008, the day the Icelandic banks went down. It was hard to secure their interest. Then in 2010 Bloomsbury, commissioned a book, which, as is the case with everyone who runs into this story, was loved by all who read it. In 2013 there was another production in Barnstaple, but again the West End producers didn’t come. My father died in April, 2020. Kisses on a Postcard is too special to remain just a script and a CD on a shelf. I did not have the means to turn it into a film or a stage show, but I did have the means to turn it into an audiobook and that is what I have done. Dad would have been more ruthless with the script than I have and kept it to two hours. I have let it run much longer. With good reason. This story will disarm you in the most unexpected ways. You will find yourself laughing and weeping at just what wonderful things the kindest of human beings can be. I hope you enjoy it. And if you do, please tell your friends. Thank you. Dominic Frisby.PS Order original Kisses on a Postcard CDs here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kisses.substack.com