Performances of the senior school play, Blue Stockings, are taking place this week in the Butterfield Hall; with the opening night, on Thursday, being a roaring success.
The play, set in Cambridge, was written by Jessica Swale in 2013 and is reviewed by Nick Hern Books (online) as follows;
“A moving, comical and eye-opening story of four young women fighting for education and self-determination against the larger backdrop of women’s suffrage. 1896. Girton College, Cambridge, the first college in Britain to admit women. The Girton girls study ferociously and match their male peers grade for grade. Yet, when the men graduate, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of being a ‘blue stocking’ – an unnatural, educated woman. They are denied degrees and go home unqualified and unmarriageable.
In Jessica Swale’s debut play, Blue Stockings, Tess Moffat and her fellow first years are determined to win the right to graduate. But little do they anticipate the hurdles in their way: the distractions of love, the cruelty of the class divide or the strength of the opposition, who will do anything to stop them. The play follows them over one tumultuous academic year, in their fight to change the future of education.
Blue Stockings received its professional premiere at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, in August 2013, directed by John Dove.”
The pupils have been rehearsing throughout the term and a huge thanks must go to all the cast and crew, particularly Mr Jamie Brough, Mr Chris Harknett and Miss Caitlin Smith, whose drive and passion have helped to bring this performance to life.
