Four young women fight to change the future of education!
It is 1896 and at Cambridge University a battle is raging for the right of women to sit for degrees.
While the female students of Girton College study hard and match their male peers grade for grade, they graduate with nothing other than the stigma of being a ‘blue stocking’ – an unnatural, educated woman.
But now four Girton girls (played by Ginny Leigh, Ashton Matthews, Lauren Aspery and Lauren Allison – pictured) are taking on the system and are determined to overcome the prejudices they face.
BLUE STOCKINGS premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2013 and won writer Jessica Swale a nomination for Most Promising Playwright in the Evening Standard Awards.
Set against the larger backdrop of women’s suffrage, this is an energetic and eye-opening drama which highlights a period in history and a passionate fight for education and self-determination.
Sara Jo Harrison who plays teacher and suffragette Miss Blake comments: “It might seem that the play is irrelevant because women can graduate now and are educated in this country, but in other countries around the world sadly that is not the case. Women still face a lot of inequality when it comes to education, and even in this country women still face barriers to education with things like caring responsibilities and poverty. So it’s still a very relevant play, highlighting how far we’ve come but also that the fight isn’t over here and around the world”.
BLUE STOCKINGS opens on Tuesday 5th March on the Main Stage.
Also at the People’s in March, head back to the swinging sixties in Joe Orton’s ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE. A slick conman becomes entangled in a dangerous game of sex and violence in this mischievous and wickedly sharp black comedy.
ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE runs from Tuesday 19 to Saturday 23 March on the Main Stage.
Tickets for both of these productions are available from the People’s Theatre Box Office on 0191 265 5020 (option 2) and online at www.peoplestheatre.co.uk
LISTINGS INFORMATION
BLUE STOCKINGS by Jessica Swale
Date: Tuesday 5 – Saturday 9 March 2024
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: £16/£13.50
Venue: People’s Theatre, Stephenson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5QF
Box Office: 0191 265 5020
Website: www.peoplestheatre.co.uk
This amateur production of “Blue Stockings” is presented by arrangement with Nick Hern Books
ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE by Joe Orton
Date: Tuesday 19 – Saturday 23 March 2024
Time: 7.30pm
Tickets: £16/£13.50
Venue: People’s Theatre, Stephenson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5QF
Box Office: 0191 265 5020
Website: www.peoplestheatre.co.uk
This amateur production of “Entertaining Mr Sloane” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk