Blue Stockings

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.

Music composed by Laura Forrest-Hay to accompany amateur performances of the play is available to license from Nick Hern Books. You can listen to a trailer containing excerpts on our SoundCloud page here.

This play is also available as an A4 Edition. With spiral binding, a larger print size and additional space for notes, this format is ideal for directors, stage managers, actors and others to use in rehearsal and production.

To order, simply select the 'A4 Spiral-bound' option above. Please note A4 Editions are only available for delivery within the UK.

Also available: Jessica Swale's Blue Stockings, an indispensable Page to Stage guide for anyone studying, teaching or performing the play.

Q&A Podcast: listen to a Q&A with Jessica Swale about Blue Stockings, recorded in July 2021 as part of the NHB Playgroup series...