A PLAY which received its world premiere in Dorchester, with three full houses and a standing ovation goes on tour this weekend to Lighthouse, Poole tonight and the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis tomorrow.

A Pure Woman is a new play by Simon Reade based on Christopher Nicholson’s novel Winter.

Set in the winter of 1924/25 and based on true events, A Pure Woman tells the story of 84 year-old Thomas Hardy’s affair of the heart with Gertrude Bugler and the jealousy it inspired in his second wife, Florence.

Gertrude was a young Dorset woman, in her 20s, who played Tess of the D’Urbervilles in the local Hardy Players’ production in Dorchester, adapted by Hardy himself. Florence, in her 40s, had been a muse to Hardy when she was his young secretary while his first wife Emma was still alive. Hardy’s apparent obsession with Gertrude drives Florence into a jealous rage.

It will also be performed at the Exchange in Sturminster Newton, on Wednesday, October 17 at 7.30pm.

The tour will continue across England and Thomas Hardy’s Wessex until October 27.

Mark Tattersall of Dorchester Arts, co-producers of the play, said: “We are delighted that so many other venues around the country have also booked the play – it’s a very moving and thoughtful piece of theatre and you don’t need to be a Hardy devotee to enjoy it.”