New play ‘She Opened the Door’ by Dorset playwright Peter John Cooper premieres at the 19th International Thomas Hardy Festival at the Corn Exchange, Dorchester on Sunday 1st August at 3.30pm (Note the afternoon time).  Commissioned by AsOne Theatre Company

She Opened the Door is a fresh look at Thomas Hardy’s first wife Emma and her relationship with the literary genius and one of Dorset’s favourite sons; it takes place in the garden of their home at Max Gate.

Hardy’s possessive mother Jemima comes to visit for a first and only time, Mrs Florence Henniker who has written a novel with Hardy arrives on the new fangled bicycle; add a feisty house maid plus Emma’s tangled nerves and you have a powder keg ready to blow!

 
With music and songs by world renowned composer Roderick Skeaping, and design by the talented Annette Sumption AsOne promises an imaginative evening of quality and surprise.

 The theatre company is proud to be the finale of the International Thomas Hardy Festival, Dorchester’s Corn Exchange, Sun 1 August 2010, 3.30 pm, and a part of the Bournemouth Literary Festival, Sun 24th October 2010 2.30 pm at The Royal Bath Hotel.