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 ? 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.
"Cracking... leaves you astonished at the prejudices these educational pioneers had to
overcome." - Guardian "Brings wit and intelligence to a meaty subject." - Evening Standard
"Lively and eye-opening." - Independent "Thoughtful and provocative... thoroughly researched
and grippingly dramatised." - The Stage "Touching and entertaining... Swale tells the story
with both wit and a hint of righteous indignation." - Telegraph Jessica Swale is a director
playwright workshop leader and educator. She is Artistic Director of Red Handed Theatre
Company works regularly with the National Theatre Out of Joint and various drama schools and
leads theatre projects in developing countries for Youth Bridge Global.
