Written by Jessica
SWALE
Directed by Gabrielle SOSKIN
Assistant Director Olivia
WOODS ▪ Set, Props & Costume Designer Alexa
GREGORY ▪ Lighting Designer Caite CLARK ▪ Stage Manager Annalise PETERSON-PERRY
Featuring
Jayden Beaton ▪ Chloe Bilodeau ▪ Elise du Bussac ▪ Natalie Demmon ▪ Maxine Denis ▪ Camila Fitzgibbon ▪ Nick FonTAine ▪ Calder Levine ▪ Darragh Mondou ▪ Simon PELLETIER ▪ Judith Portelance ▪ Arun Radhakrishnan ▪ Christopher de Varennes
As
Persephone Productions approaches its 20th
anniversary, it proudly presents Blue
Stockings,
written by Olivier Award-winning playwright, theatre director and
screenwriter, Jessica Swale. Set in the late Victorian era of 1896 at England’s
prestigious Cambridge University, Blue Stockings follows the
story of four young women fighting for self-determination and the right to
receive higher education against the larger backdrop of women’s suffrage in
Britain.
Cambridge’s
Girton College is the first to admit women and the Girton girls study
ferociously, matching their male peers grade for grade. Yet, when the men
graduate with degrees in hand, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of
being a ‘blue stocking’ – an unnatural, educated woman, returning home
without a degree, still considered unqualified and now, unmarriageable. Over
the course of one tumultuous academic year,Tess Moffat and her
na ve fellow first-years, determined to win the right to graduate, face the
distractions of love, the cruelty of the class divide, and the ferocity of the
opposition that will do anything to stop them in their crusade for equality in
education.
Jessica Swale discovered that women as recently as those of her own
grandmother’s generation were discouraged, and sometimes forbidden, from going
to university. Director Gabrielle Soskin was not surprised by that fact,
saying, “I and four close friends who immigrated to Canada in the early 70s
didn’t study for our degrees until many, many years after we had graduated from
high school, having never been encouraged to do so when we were younger”. The
shocking revelation inspired Swale to write the play, her first, which she
dedicated it to Malala Yousafzai. Blue
Stockings originally premiered to great success at the Globe Theatre in
London in 2013. It continues to be produced and is now on the UK’s exam
syllabus.
The witty play,
rich in action and character, has a deep connection
with the ongoing contemporary fight for women’s rights today. “It’s a terrific choice for Persephone”, explained Soskin, “because it
perfectly reflects our mandate to create professional opportunities for
emerging theatre artists through works of literary AND social significance”.
The production features a large ensemble of 13 actors, all graduates from the
various theatre programs in Montreal and beyond.
Talkbacks: Following both Sunday matin es, Oct. 20 & 27, audiences will have an opportunity to enrich the theatre-going experience through a post-show Q&A with the actors and director.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: October 17 to 27, 2019
Evenings
Wed. through
Sat.
8pm
Matin es
Sun. Oct. 20 & 27
2pm
Wed. Oct.
23
1pm
Mon. &
Tues.
Dark
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VENUE
Le Conservatoire de musique et d’art
dramatique du Qu bec
Studio Jean Valcourt
4750 Henri Julien, Montreal, H2T 2C8
TICKETS
$30 General admission
$25 Seniors & groups
$14 Student groups of ten people or more
BOX OFFICE
Tel.:
514-873-4031 ext. 313
