A PLAY written two decades ago about the life of one of the 20th Century's most eccentric writers is to be premiered next week.

Worcestershire writer Veronica Richards penned the touching account of Katherine Mansfield's life with the intention of taking it on the road as a one-woman play.

But the actress never quite found the time to perform the show, which follows the life of the New Zealand writer who became famed for her short stories.

Now, 20 years later, the play is to be performed at Cheltenham's Everyman Theatre.

I started researching her because I found her to be such an interesting character, said Veronica, who lives in Cleeve Prior, near Evesham.

She was extremely modern in some ways and extremely old fashioned in others. People had a very prim idea of her, but she was very well travelled and had a lot of experiences. Yet her fame didn't really happen until after her death, meaning life was really very hard and she was no doubt a very difficult person to live with.

Born in 1888, the writer became known as a rebellious and free-spirited woman and spent the end of her short life rubbing shoulders with literary greats such as DH Lawrence and TS Elliot.

The author was Virginia Woolf's closest rival before dying in 1923 of tuberculosis.

However the Worcestershire writer stressed that the play was very upbeat".

And she modestly added she was sure re-writing the piece three times had made the play far better than its original one-woman format.

Instead of being a one woman play it now has three actors, which I feel is far better she said.

It is visually a very different play with much more life to it and now has an element of dance. The play is much more dynamic than it would have been and it is suitable for all ages.

For tickets to the play Katherine next Wednesday and Thursday, call 01242 572573.