The Hours

by Michael Cunningham

Genres: Literary Fiction; Book Prizes & Literary Awards

Synopsis

A BBC radio adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Michael Cunningham, inspired by Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway

Three separate women, living in different locations and eras, are linked by their passion for Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway. As they each live through a Tuesday in June, their thoughts and experiences mirror each other and become interwoven.

In Richmond in 1923, Virginia Woolf struggles to write a novel whose protagonist is Mrs Dalloway. In Los Angeles in 1949, Laura ignores her chores and small son to sit in bed reading Mrs Dalloway. In 1990s New York, Clarissa goes to buy flowers for a party, mirroring the start of the fictional Mrs Dalloway's day. The party is in honour of her sick friend Richard, who long ago dubbed her Mrs Dalloway.

As their stories intertwine, they converge to become one, weaving together themes of storytelling, domestic tension, friendship, love, loss, parental guilt, loneliness, bisexuality and the challenges of hosting social rituals.

Adapted by Sony Award-winning dramatist Frances Byrnes, this affecting dramatisation stars Fenella Woolgar as Virginia Woolf, Teresa Gallagher as Laura and Rosamund Pike as Clarissa.

'I am so thrilled by the BBC's production of my novel, The Hours, and—believe me—a novelist does not thrill easily'—Michael Cunningham

Cast
Virginia/Kitty—Fenella Woolgar
Laura—Gallagher
Dan/Walter—Corey Johnson
Richie—Jack Towbin
Clarissa—Rosamund Pike
Sally/Vanessa—Lia Williams
Leonard/Louis—David Annen
Nelly—Rachel Atkins
Julia—Haley McGee
Other voices by Sydney Beveridge and Josh Wakesberg

Directed by Judith Kampfner and Polly Thomas
Produced by Judith Kampfner
A Corporation For Independent Media production for BBC Radio 4

Release date: August 23, 2011

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Print pages: 240