A delve into the correspondence of one of the most prolific, diverse and popular English artists of the interwar years was presented on stage by Studio Theatre and Salisbury Museum last week.

Artist Rex Whistler was 19 when he met 53-year-old Edith Olivier of Wilton, who became a lifelong friend and introduced him to Wiltshire. His letters to her and to other friends and patrons formed the basis of Darling Edith, and Others, an hour long production, performed by a cast of eight Studio Theatre actors – at the invitation of Salisbury Museum in its new lecture hall.

Cecil Beaton, Stephen Tennant, Sigfried Sasson, Maud Russell, and Caroline Paget are just a few of those acquainted with the great pairing of Rex Whistler and Edith Olivier at the time of the Bright Young Things.

Compiled and edited by Christine Mason, from the Salisbury Museum Rex Whistler Archive, this was one of a series of events running in conjunction with the museum’s major exhibition of Whistler’s work, marking the 80th anniversary of his untimely death, at the age of 39, on the battlefields of France in 1944.

Prior to each of the four-night performances, audiences were able to view the museum's exhibition - Rex Whistler: The Artist and His Patrons, containing many previously unseen initial sketches, focusing on the relationship with his patrons and exploring his working practices.

Sensitively adapted for stage by Lesley Bates, it was an interesting and thought-provoking insight into the artist's life, loves and influences.