“A Public of Two” has been adapted from a chapter of Katherine’s Wish, a novel by Linda Lappin, dealing with the last five years of writer Katherine Mansfield’s life.
In the summer of 1920, Mansfield received a frequent visitor to her London home: Virginia Woolf. Once a week, Woolf took the train from Richmond, disembarking at Hampstead Heath, and walked the rest of the way to Mansfield’s house at 2 Portland Villas. In Mansfield’s studio overlooking the garden, the two women would discuss the craft of writing, while sipping tea prepared down in the kitchen by Ida Baker, Mansfield’s companion. Keen fascination with each other’s work and life and a sharp rivalry united them. At summer’s end, Mansfield traveled to the continent, seeking a cure for her tuberculosis. Katherine and Virginia would not meet again. Mansfield died in France, outside Paris at the Prieurè of Fontainebleau in January 1923.
Adapted by the author and produced by Rosemary Beech, this radio play features Ellisha O'Donnell in the role of Katherine Mansfield; Rosemary Beech in the role of Virginia Woolf; Alice Gold in the role of Ida Baker; and Jonty O’ Callaghan in the role of John Middleton Murry, Mansfield’s husband.
For more information about Katherine’s Wish, see the author’s website: www.lindalappin.net