From May to Etta, with Love

From May to Etta, with Love is a series of six short audio dramas inspired by an extraordinary photo collection held by Glamorgan Archives.

The pictures are from the studio of Fred Petersen, an early portrait photographer who had a business at 232 Bute Street, Cardiff from 1910-1920. Fred’s beautifully intimate and intriguing pictures are notable for portraying black and mixed heritage children and families from Cardiff’s historically diverse docks community.

The collection was donated to Glamorgan Archives in the 1970s with no contextual detail. Despite numerous public appeals over the years, almost all the subjects of the photos remain unidentified.

In 2023, The National Archives in London commissioned Applied Stories to visit Cardiff and meet with Glamorgan Archives specialists, to see what could be done to bring these images to life. Applied Stories, a company specialising in audio drama, worked with two professional writers with Butetown links, Danielle Fahiya and Kyle Lima, to script six imagined scenes from the moment the photo was taken.

From May to Etta, with Love is the extraordinary result. Each play sends listeners back in time, to eavesdrop on the conversation between Fred Petersen and his subjects. The scripts were recorded with a mixed cast of professional actors and contemporary young people from the Butetown area, in partnership with Fio.

The six plays will be launched online with a free Zoom listening party on Weds 29 November at 7pm, before being printed and displayed in Glamorgan Archives foyer, and at other locations around Cardiff.

An Applied Stories project for Glamorgan Archives and the National Archives. In partnership with Fio.