Blue Stockings in the Press

The Plant

November 21st, 2019
Life after Dawson’s Professional Theatre Program: Blue Stockings Review
Chelsea Moore

"A play directed by Gabrielle Soskin and written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Jessica Swale, [Blue Stockings] addresses the expectations and liberation of women within the scholarly world. With its rich script and philosophical undertones being passionately delivered, the audience could not help but be immersed in the action of the play."

iHeartRadio.ca

October 25th, 2019
What to do this weekend, October 25-27
Sarah Deshaies

"Blue Stockings is a play about the barriers facing women who just want to get an education. Set at Cambridge's Girton College in 1896. four young friends encounter all kinds of challenges, from sexism to school fees. Until October 27 at Studio Jean-Valcourt du Conservatoire."

Montreal Gazette

October 24th, 2019
Five Things to do in Montreal this weekend

"More theatre, this time from Persephone Productions with Jessica Swale’s epic Cambridge-set drama about female empowerment during the 19th century. Writes Kathryn Greenaway in a preview of the show: 'Persephone Productions acts as a bridge of sorts for recent theatre graduates, offering them opportunities to finesse their skills. Four of the 13-member Blue Stockings cast are graduates of John Abbott College’s professional theatre program in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, and Gabrielle Soskin, the play’s director and Persephone’s founder, taught theatre at John Abbott for 27 years.'"

Cult MTL

October 18th, 2019
TO-DO in MONTREAL

"Montreal theatre company Persephone Productions presents Blue Stockings, a tale of four British women fighting for the right to higher education in the late 19th century, parallel to the larger women’s suffrage movement. The play, written by Jessica Swale and directed by Gabrielle Soskin, promises to be witty"

CKUT 90.3 FM

October 17th, 2019
UPSTAGE Radio Talk Show
Sarah Deshaies interviews Maxine Denis

“Even to this day, it’s still not everybody that can go to school and have access to an education. We take it for granted. For me, it was established when I very young that I was going to go all the way to receive a higher education, but a lot of women didn’t – and still don't – have that opportunity. I find it great that Jessica Swale took it upon herself to write a very touching play that has a sense of comedic timing to it but yet tells a very important story. [Bluestockings] is very relevant. We still don't have equality 100% across the board.”

Montreal Gazette

October 12th, 2019
Theatre: To the edge of grief and hope
Jim Burke

"Swale’s play, which is now part of the U.K.’s schools curriculum, is a lively exploration of many of the issues facing a group of Girton undergraduates, including the struggle for women’s suffrage, for sexual autonomy and for the right to ride a bicycle without attracting ridicule and hostility. Gabrielle Soskin directs a 13-strong cast consisting mostly, as per Persephone’s brief, of young and emerging theatre artists."

Montreal Gazette

October 10th, 2019
Blue Stockings chronicles rise of the suffragette movement
Kathryn Greenaway

"Blue Stockings speaks to my history and my beliefs,” Soskin said. “As a young girl growing up in England in the ’50s, I longed to be heard. I wanted to be a rebel girl. I wanted to know when someone would listen, seriously, to what a woman was saying.”

Says Camila Fitzgibbon: “The themes in Blue Stockings still resonate today. There is still work to be done in terms of women’s rights. There are still places in the world where women can not hold public office or are having their reproductive rights stomped on.”

The Suburban

October 9th, 2019
Persephone’s Blue Stockings depicts a portrait in courage
Kristine Berey

"When Gabrielle Soskin, founder and artistic director of Persephone Productions, and now a playwright as well, heard that Blue Stockings premiered at the Globe Theatre in London, she knew it was perfect for Persephone. The company’s mandate is to provide work for emerging theatre artists through works of literary and social significance. But there is also a personal connection.

​'It means something to me,' Soskin said during an interview at her Westmount home. 'I think it reminds us of our history and how far we have come and where we still have to go. We should take strength and confidence from the pioneers.'”

La Scena Musicale

October 2nd, 2019
The Bluestocking Blues
​Pat Donnelly
​
"The bizarre nature of 19th-century arguments used against higher education for women are highlighted in Blue Stockings, by British playwright Jessica Swale, opening soon at Studio Jean Valcourt thanks to Persephone Productions."

OrcaSound

September 18th, 2019
Persephone Productions Presents Blue Stockings

"Over the course of one tumultuous academic year,Tess Moffat and her naïve 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."

Montreal Theatre Hub

September 10th, 2019
Persephone Productions advocates women’s right to higher education in 'Blue Stockings'
​Camila Fitzgibbon

"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'."

Global News

September 10th, 2019
BLUE STOCKINGS

"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, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of being a ‘blue stocking’. Tess Moffat and her naïve fellow first-years are determined to win the right to graduate, despite the class divide and the ferocity of the opposition that will do anything to stop their crusade for equality in education."

Broadway World

September 10th, 2019
​BLUE STOCKINGS Advocates Women's Right To Higher Education

"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."

La Scena  Musicale

September 2nd, 2019
Theatre: Autumn Highlights
​Nathalie de Han

​"Written by Jessica Swale and directed by Gabrielle Soskin, promising Blue Stockings takes place in 1896 in the British first college to admit women and follows four of them, determined to graduate (Oct. 17-27 www.persephoneproductions.org)" 

Montreal Gazette

August 29th, 2019
Fall theatre in Montreal: Musicals, circus acts and so much more
Jim Burke

"Persephone Productions is back in business after a brief hiatus with Blue Stockings, Jessica Swale’s epic Cambridge-set drama about female empowerment during the 19th century. It plays from Oct. 17 to 27 at Studio Jean-Valcourt du Conservatoire (4575 Henri-Julien Ave.)."