Transcendental Wild Oats

Louisa May Alcott (Louisa Harland - Hamnet) immortalised herself and her sisters in her book Little Women. In Transcendental Wild Oats, she tells the story of her parents, Abigail (Rebekah Staton) and Bronson (Alistair Petrie - Night Manager 2), and her father’s attempt to found a utopia on a farm in the New England wilderness, called Fruitlands.

Accompanied by a dour Englishman named Charles Lane (Mathew Baynton - Ghosts), and a small band of eccentrics, they believed Eden could be returned to Earth through veganism, celibacy and organic farming – which none of them knew how to do. What followed were six months of misadventure, with comedy gradually threatening to turn into tragedy.

This adaptation combines Louisa’s original short story with historical record, drawing on the letters and diaries of the people involved, to tell the full story of Fruitlands.

Dramatised by Edward Rowett
Original Story by Louisa May Alcott
Directed by Gordon Kennedy and Edward Rowett

Cast:
Louisa May Alcott and Louy Alcott - Louisa Harland
Bronson Alcott - Alistair Petrie
Abigail Alcott - Rebekah Staton
Charles Lane - Mathew Baynton

Christopher Godwin as Joseph Palmer
Tom Moores as Samuel Bower
Edward Rowett as Abraham Wood
Patricia Rodriguez as Ann Page
Jason Barnett as Ralph Waldo Emerson
Victoria Rigby as Anna Alcott

Production Manager - Sarah Tombling
Studio Engineer, Sound Design and Editing - Wilfredo Acosta
Produced by Gordon Kennedy
Recorded at The Soundhouse Studios, London

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4