A full-cast adaptation of one of the earliest feminist works in American literature – plus a selection of Kate Chopin’s short stories

Kate Chopin was an American novelist and short story writer. Scholars consider her to have been a forerunner of 20th-century feminist authors of Southern or Catholic background, such as Zelda Fitzgerald, and she is among the most recognized writers of Louisiana Creole heritage. She is best known today for her 1899 novel The Awakening. It was her last novel, in which Chopin shocked the readers of her day by showing a woman fulfilled by throwing off the ties of marriage and children.

The Awakening – Unsatisfied with societal expectations, Edna Pontellier begins to fall in love with the dapper Robert Lebrun. Lebrun's flirtations, along with the lifestyle of renowned musician Mademoiselle Reisz, rejuvenates Edna's sense of freedom and independence. However, an affair with the womanizer Alcee Arobin provides Edna with a taste of the danger that comes from living outside of social convention. Trapped between the life she is expected to live and the one she longs to lead, Edna is propelled in a course that frees, consumes, and eventually destroys her. Starring Briony Glassco as Edna Pontellier, William Dufris as Robert and Lorelei King as Kate Chopin.

'Ma'ame Pelagie' – Ma’am Pelagie and her younger sister, Pauline, inhabit their now derelict plantation in Louisiana and adjust to life after the American Civil War. Read by Carolyn Pickles.

'A Respectable Woman' – Mrs Baroda, the respectable wife of a sugar planter, finds herself confused and ambivalent when an old friend of her husband’s comes to stay. This cleverly observed story is read by Carolyn Pickles.

'The Story of an Hour' – Some supposedly bad news leaves a woman feeling strangely free. But has there been a mistake? Read by Clare Corbett.

'The Kiss' – Kate Chopin's story of a woman scheming to marry a wealthy man and maintain a young lover. Read by Carolyn Pickles.

'A Pair of Silk Stockings' – Kate Chopin’s tale of a woman who spends a windfall on herself, instead of her children. Read by Clare Corbett.