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A biographical drama by Zalie Burrow, written especially for Eileen Atkins, about a fiercely independent writer and artist who lived and worked on the remote moorlands of Exmoor.

A growing friendship develops between her and a London publisher who comes to discuss turning her journals into a book.

HOPE BOURNE……Eileen Atkins
ANTHONY DENT…Alex Jennings

Sound: Jon Calver
Producer: Sarah Golding
Director: Cherry Cookson
A Wireless Theatre production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4

Set on the remote moorlands of Exmoor, this biographical drama explores a pivotal period in the life of the writer and artist Hope Bourne [1918-2010] who lived for several decades alone without electricity, surviving by hunting, growing her own food and maintaining a fiercely independent way of life. Despite her geographical isolation, Hope was an accomplished intellectual and artist, once offered a place at the Slade at the age of eleven.

The drama centres on her relationship with the publisher Anthony Dent, who becomes intrigued when she sends him an untidy but compelling draft of her journals, illustrated with striking drawings. His subsequent visits to Exmoor to discuss publishing lead to an unlikely friendship that develops over several years, during which time Dent’s assumptions about society, success and fulfilment are gradually challenged. The publication of these works led to her becoming quite a celebrity later in life.

The play was written specifically for Eileen Atkins, who will be 92 in June, acting alongside Alex Jennings. The two actors last notably worked together on The Crown, playing Queen Mary and her son the Duke of Windsor.