NZ actor Danielle Cormack takes to the stage in the new year to explore the dynamic world of Katherine Mansfield - one of this country's most celebrated, enigmatic and controversial writers.

"The thing about Katherine Mansfield - and what she is most notorious for - is the way that she lived her life, which is incredibly modern," says Cormack. "And for that alone, I really admire her."NZ actor Danielle Cormack takes to the stage in the new year to explore the dynamic world of Katherine Mansfield - one of this country's most celebrated, enigmatic and controversial writers.

"The thing about Katherine Mansfield - and what she is most notorious for - is the way that she lived her life, which is incredibly modern," says Cormack. "And for that alone, I really admire her."Every word spoken is Mansfield's own. We meet her on her return to home soil at 18 years old, we share her frustration with the parochialism of early New Zealand, the anxiety and bohemian elation of her first years back in London, the frustrations of her first marriage, the devastating death of her brother, a second chance at love, onset of tuberculosis and above all her passion for writing, which was to be the sustaining force of her too short life.

Catherine Downes wrote and performed seasons of The Case Of Katherine Mansfield to unanimous acclaim in England, Scotland, The Netherlands, America, Australia and New Zealand throughout the late '70s right up until the early '90s. Downes was awarded the Festival Times Award and the Scotsman Omnibus Award at the 1979 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Best Radio Play ABC Australia in 1981 and was nominated for a PYE Award for Best Radio Play BBC World Service.

"I really don't believe she was a lesbian and I really don't believe that she was a heterosexual. In fact, I think of her as a sexual being, and to employ or adopt any of these sexual terms or constraints seems completely redundant."

"Catherine Downes' finely crafted assemblage of Mansfield writing creates a picture as radiant and mysterious as her subject." - New Zealand Herald

"A virtuoso tour-de-force" - Time Out magazine, London

"The Case of Katherine Mansfield has wit and charm enough to score even where its subject may be unknown." - Variety Magazine, USA

"A powerfully executed work of Art." - The Listener

"Downes has held on to Mansfield's rich language, weaving in readings from three of her best-known short stories - Prelude, Bliss, and The Doll's House - which, like a born storyteller, Cormack brings to life in entrancing animation." ViewAuckland.co.nz

The Case of Katherine Mansfield
From the journals, letters and stories of Katherine Mansfield
By Catherine Downes
Starring Danielle Cormack

When: 18 January - 3 February 2007
Where:Downstage Theatre
Times: Mon-Thu 6.30pm, Fri & Sat 8pm
Bookings: 04 801 6946 or www.downstage.co.nz