Blue Stockings – New Wimbledon Theatre
Behold, a young lady pursuing education, clamouring for the right to graduate, wanting to perform scientific experiments and debate on philosophy! Is there anything more unnatural than a ‘blue stocking’ woman who insists on going against her role in nature, which is to reproduce and care for the young? Concepts that draw snickers from the audience now, but concepts that were well believed and propagated in the 19th century.
Written by Jessica Swale and directed by Natalie Romero, Blue Stockings is set in Cambridge of the 1890s. A group of women – young and old, students and teachers – are fighting for their right to earn a degree and to be educated on the same footing as the men. The female students match their male counterparts grade for grade and yet find that they are sidelined, even...