California Playwright Inspired by Life of Nancy Wake

Wellington-born wartime heroine Nancy Wake’s story unfolds in Code Name: Brass Rose, a California-produced play by Rachel Bublitz on as part of San Francisco’s Loud and Unladylike reading festival.

Wake was a British agent during WWII, a courier for the French Resistance, and a member of the Baker Street Irregulars – a British espionage and sabotage organisation during the war.

Codename: Brass Rose concentrates on 12 scenes of Wake’s life that occurred during, before, or after the war, showing the transformation of someone who happens to live through times of chaos, and the price that fighting for freedom cost her.

Wake died in London in 2011 at the age of 98.

The second of two staged readings of Codename: Brass Rose is scheduled for 10 July at the EXIT Theatre.

Original article by Robert Hurwitt, SFGate, June 24, 2015.

Photo by AAP/Tim Mercer.