Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Tue 17-Sat 21 Mar
Everyman Theatre Company will be returning to Chapter once again this month, with the play Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale. It follows the Cardiff company’s last production of Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector with a similarly political significance. The play has become a bit of a modern classic since it first showed at the Globe Theatre in 2013.
An insight into women’s equality in Victorian Britain, it follows four women who arrive at Girton College in Cambridge in 1896, and how the story of their fight for education unfolds. Although not formally educated, they are a match for their male equivalents. The play offers an intimate portrait of these women, who must deal with the implications of their choice to be educated. This is perceived as ‘unladylike’ and ‘unnatural’ as opposed to following their typical choices of staying at home to raise a family. These revolutionary women were referred to negatively as ‘bluestockings’.
Despite proving themselves worthy of their degrees, there is still question of whether the women should receive their degrees or not. The college grants a vote of the University alumni as to whether these women should receive their degrees. They are faced with uncertainty and careers they may not even have. The cast features Llinos McCann, Jess Courtney, Alex Ogden-Davies and Lucinda Curley as the four principal women.
Tickets: £14/£12. Info: 029 2030 4400 / www.chapter.org (EE)