Mockingbird Youth Theatre, Doha College’s performing arts academy, and Doha Players, the oldest English-speaking amateur theatre club in Qatar, are putting on six performances over five days of ‘Blue Stockings’, starting this Saturday.
A "bold and entertaining" historical drama, ‘Blue Stockings’ follows the story of a group of pioneering young women and their struggle for recognition in the academic world of Victorian Cambridge, England. The play is the moving, comical and inspiring tale of Tess Moffat and her fellow first-year student friends, who face ever more daunting obstacles in their struggle to graduate.



The play is the first theatre production to be staged at the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ), Doha College has said in a press statement.
It has taken 18 challenging months to bring the production to the stage, with the cast auditioning and rehearsing via Zoom at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Director Jane Williams, senior drama co-ordinator at Doha College and director of Mockingbird Academy, has successfully nurtured the rising talent of the young performers of Mockingbird Youth Theatre and through collaboration with the well-established Doha Players, has assembled a cast that combines the zestfulness of youth with more experienced performers, many of whom will be well known to Doha theatregoers, the statement noted.
‘Blue Stockings’ was first performed at The Globe Theatre in London and has become a popular choice for theatre companies in the UK and around the world.
Dr Steffen Sommer, principal of Doha College, shared his excitement at this rekindling of dramatic arts, combined with the powerful message about women’s education: “I am elated at the opportunity of attending the performance of ‘Blue Stockings.’ It is an enormous privilege for Doha College and Mockingbird, as well as for the Doha Players, to put on this fantastic show. Thank you to our friends in the National Museum of Qatar and HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani for her support of the initiative. It is quite extraordinary to be using that space, particularly for a play like ‘Blue Stockings,’ which is all about women’s rights, and also uses as an example Malala, who has been fighting for the rights of girls and women to education around the globe. It’s an amazing show, do come and join us!”
Tickets for the production will be sold through the National Museum of Qatar website at https://nmoq.org.qa
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