Blue Stockings

In 1896 women students at Girton College, Cambridge were allowed to attend classes but not to graduate.

Jessica Swale’s absorbing, powerful and often funny play tells the story of a group of four spirited young women who use their wit and intellect to fight for education and self-determination against the backdrop of the campaign for women’s suffrage. The obstacles in the way of these feisty pioneers include the distractions of young love, the harsh realities of the class divide and the intransigence and hostility of the opposition. The lives and futures of these young women will be profoundly affected by the outcome of a vote that will decide whether they have the right to a degree or must instead return home unqualified and deemed by society as ‘unmarriageable’.

At a time when women and girls in some parts of the world still struggle to get access to education, it’s a play that speaks to today.