"There are some women who choose to overlook their natural maternal instincts in favour of academia, but the fact of the matter is that women cannot dispense with the physical limitations of their sex."
In 1896 this was the accepted view. A woman wanting to study was unnatural and unmarriageable, yet there were those who chose this path.
Girton College, Cambridge, was the first to accept women. Although they match their male peers grade for grade, they cannot graduate. This is the story of four girls and their brave tutors in their fight to change the future of education.
This amateur production is presented by special arrangement with Nick Hern Books.
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CAST
Tess
Heather Pearson
Celia
Emily Shillan
Carolyn
Hannah Breedon
Maeve
Sophie Owen
Will Bennett
Jacob Baker
Ralph Mayhew
Joel Heritage
Lloyd
Aaron Connely
Holmes
Daniel Fitzpatrick
Edwards
Nathan Sharpe
Mr Banks
Jonathan Cleaver
Mrs Welsh
Sarah Taylor
Miss Blake
Joanna Hoyes
Miss Bott / Lady
Liza Pybus
Prof Collins / Maudsley
John Anthony
Prof Radleigh / Peck
Richard Fife
Prof Anderson / Librarian / Gent
Roger Watson
Minnie
Adelaide Marshall
Billy Sullivan / Waiter
James Whitby
Mrs Lindley
Arwen Makin
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THEATRE REVIEW: Blue Stockings at the Lace Market Theatre
Blue Stockings way passed my expectations of how good I thought it would be. Being a period play, I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I definitely judged a play by its era and had prepared myself a couple of hours of droll Pride and Prejudiced style dialogue and awkwardness. I am delighted to say that I was well put in my place.
The premise for the play is it’s 1896, and females have just been allowed to attend Cambridge (or indeed any place of higher education) to study, this story follows four girls pursuing their love of the sciences. However it’s not really about them being allowed into Cambridge, it’s about the opposition and hatred they encounter along the way from their male counterparts. Out and out sexism. As funny as it may seem during the play that we look back a hundred years or so and there’s talk of women not being able to deal with motherhood if they went into education because the exertion on their weak brains would take away much needed energy from vital organs to make children, this was actually a thing. ‘Educated’ men shutting down women purely because they don’t see it as right or proper that a female be there, let alone offering scientific theories that disagree with their own.
Love is another issue. As per the ability to be a good mother is jeopardised by academia, so is the ability to be a good wife. This is what one of our characters, Tess (Heather Pearson), battles with during the play when she meets a gentleman, Ralph Mayhew (Joel Heritage) in the library.
It is a fairly large cast, and they all put on a blinding performance, but I will have to mention some of my favourites. As before, Pearson plays Tess brilliantly, and could almost imagine her on T.V. in a period drama.
Sophie Owen played Maive, from a lower class family, and gives us an emotionally charged scene that really brought a sombre moment to the stage.
Lloyd (Aaron Connely) and Dr Maudsley (John Anthony) showed what they thought about girls being at Cambridge in no uncertain terms. Very angry, and very passionate, it was almost quite hard to watch and makes you grateful for how far we’ve moved on since the days of Suffrage (even if there’s still quite some way to go).
Carolyn, played by the fabulous Hannah Breedon, was dynamite to watch on stage. Her character is a happy go lucky ball of confidence and positivity, and that really comes through in Hannah’s performance
Again, all the cast were awesome, and they all add to why you should definitely go and see this play. Blue Stockings, as well as entertaining, is also educational; little tit bits of information slyly sneak into your brain, whether it be about the sciences the young women are learning about, or the history of what life was like back then for the girls (and others). I thoroughly enjoyed my few hours at the Lace Market Theatre and would consider catching it again before it ends.
Read the original article here.
"Blue Stockings" by Jessica Swale
Nottingham Lace Market Theatre
This is one powerful play aimed at women's rights and education as well as historical events surrounding events that are still relevant in today's society regarding the equality of women.
It tells the story of the battle fought at Girton College, Cambridge in 1896 to earn women the right to graduate. Even if each scene is calculated to make a point, Swale writes with vigour and leaves you astonished at the prejudices these young women had to overcome.
The focus is on four new Girton girls, of whom Tess, an astronomy student, is the most determinedly outspoken.
Women are given the option of education or marriage and both routes are explored throughout the play.
What is appalling is the hostility the women encounter, not least from male undergraduates who either bully or patronise their female contemporaries. Blatant sexual pigeon holing and insults are dealt out to the women who were expected to take it or leave. the women teachers also often afraid to "rock the boat". One even admitting to progressing her education at the downfall of her relationship.
The fight for equality, as well as the vote for women to graduate at times turns to violence, but who will win by the end and will education conquer love as an option?
It's strange how different directors can make a play so different, not better, just different and Roger Watson has done a wonderful job with this play, even making a cameo in the piece. What I liked about this production was the pace and fluidity of the play. As one scene ended the next came into play.
The cast was a mix of new faces and Lace Market Theatre regulars, and one nice thing about this piece of theatre is that you can show the talents of both younger and more mature actors, covering a large age spectrum.
There were a few very passionate performances here and I must highlight Sarah Taylor for her role as Mrs Welsh, Heather Pearson as Tess, Jacob Baker as Will and Aaron Connelly as Lloyd. All four had very passionate speeches to deliver, all heightening the audiences emotions.
There was not a poor performance to be seen in this well matched cast. Emily Shillan, Hannah Breedon, Sophie Owen, Joel Heritage, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Nathan Sharpe, Jonathan Cleaver, Joanna Hoyes, Liza Pybus, John Anthony, Richard Fife, Roger Watson, Adelaide Marshall, James Whitby and Arwen Makin all delivered excellent performances.
Some excellent dialect work here also.
I mentioned the pace earlier of the play and credit must be paid to the stage managers Sam Howitt and Bex Mason for the smooth scene changes and making sure that all went to plan backstage, making the play move on at a cracking pace.
One regular scene change was from the halls of education to the orchard and this was done by light projection alone with a subtle soundscape befitting an orchard at night. Creating these images visually and aurally were Allan Green with the lighting and Jack Harris with the sound.
The costumes were excellent and there's nothing like seeing a period play with a relevant wardrobe and this one was very classy.
It's a great story, and an important one to tell, with some excellent actors. the passion is there for all to see and when the passion spills over from the stage to the audience, it makes for a great talking point long after the play has ended. And that is what you'll find if you go and see "Blue Stockings".
Read the original article here.
'Reactionary males will stagger out feeling badly mauled' Blue Stockings at the Lace Market Theatre - first night review
'Only with the benefit of hindsight can we tell how wrong some of these opinions were'
Your most reactionary male backwoodsman might stagger out of this play feeling badly mauled. Set in the 1890s, Blue Stockings is a semi-fictionalised account of the heroic and uphill struggle of the handful of female students then studying at Cambridge to achieve equality with their male counterparts.
Directed by Roger Watson (oddly, it doesn’t say so in the programme), this production is well up to Lace Market standards. On a serviceable Oxbridge set, a large cast of mostly young actors make the story and the arguments it generates come alive.
But perhaps as crucial, they portray not just ciphers but well-differentiated flesh and blood characters we’re forced to care about as individuals.
Save for a mild snatch of Australian-sounding up-speak, and a soapishly anachronistic "What’s that supposed to mean?" - the latter, of course, the fault of playwright Jessica Swales - the period is convincingly caught.
The stiff upper middle class formality of the attempts of both sexes to relate to each other is relieved by one of the most touching episodes of the evening, an out-of-bounds encounter in the college orchard between protagonist Tess (Heather Pearson in the stand-out performance of the evening) and Ralph (a thoroughly convincing Joel Heritage).
And appalling chauvinists like Henry Maudsley (John Anthony Walker), with his "Why are you here? This is a lecture hall, not a laundry" are contrasted with the martyred male progressive Mr Banks (Jonathan Cleaver).
There is splendid work too from Emily Shillan (Celia), Hannah Breedon (Carolyn), Liza Pybus (Miss Bott, the chaperone) and particularly Sophie Owen (the tragic Maeve).
It’s a strength of the play that the conflict is not presented as a simplistic binary issue; nuanced opinions from more than one side are allowed a hearing. Only with the benefit of hindsight can we tell how wrong some of these opinions were.
Read the original article here.
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