A ONE-WOMAN play last performed by the artiste off the Antarctic peninsula can be seen at the Wharf in Tavistock tomorrow (Friday) at 8pm.

?A Father for My Son? was written by Jenny Killingbeck of Lammerhooe near Horsebridge ? under her stage name of Jenny Coverack ? and Robert Edwards of Tavistock, and is performed by Jenny herself.

Jenny, who trained as an actress at the Bristol Old Vic, said she had become ?fed-up? with people relating what men had done but not talking about women?s roles. The play relates the story of Kathleen Scott ? the widow of Captain Robert Falcon Scott of the Antarctic ? whom Jenny described as ?just an amazing woman, ahead of her time?.

Kathleen had come from quite a poor background, being the youngest of 11 children. She was orphaned at an early age and was sent to live with an uncle and virtually brought herself up.

?She went vagabonding and enjoyed sleeping outside. But she was a talented sculptress, having studied firstly at the Slade School of Art, then running away to Paris and studying under Rodin. She was also friendly with Isadora Duncan,? said Jenny.

Kathleen also looked after refugees in Macedonia and helped in the First World War, taking ambulances across to France, and was possibly the second woman ever to fly.

Kathleen ?loved men?, said Jenny, but was looking for a man to give her a son rather than be a husband. She brought up son Peter by herself after Robert?s death until her remarriage when he was 13.

The play has toured from the Isles of Scilly up to London and Arundel over the last few years and was sold out when it came to the Wharf previously a couple of years ago.

The last performance was on board the ship Orlova ? on which Jenny?s husband was lecturing ? off Elephant Island in the Antarctic, when money was raised for the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

The play is an adaptation of a biography written by Kathleen?s grand-daughter Louisa Young and also Kathleen?s diaries and autobiography.

?The difficulty in writing the play was to know what to leave out,? said Jenny. ?It is a very moving story.?

Jenny said Kathleen?s second son by her second marriage was still alive and had come to see the inaugural performance of the play three years ago at Cotehele. ?He said: ?Don?t change it?!? she said.

Tickets for the play are available from the Wharf.