Seven women with mud-splattered faces and clothes sit at desks centre-stage after being pelted with rubbish on their way to the Surgeons' Hall. We can hear beyond the room where these women are about to take their Anatomy exam, the raucous noises of protest against women being able to do such a thing.
This is 1870, and the women have just had to brave several hundred protesters to reach this special exam. These shocking events will be returned to later in Alice Banks's riveting documentary drama that takes us through key moments in the fight for women to be able to attend medical school in Britain.
Many methods were used to keep women out of Edinburgh University. Medical knowledge was reworked to exclude women, they were individually charged higher fees than the men and they were required to pay extra for classes.
Newspapers would often print opposition to the idea with one arguing that, “these women ought to be dedicated to their husband’s happiness.”
Even when Edith (Tatiana Kneale), one of the seven, achieved the highest grade in a Chemistry exam, she was denied the Hope Scholarship prize awarded normally to the student attaining the highest grade. Instead, it was given to a male student scoring a lower grade.
It must have taken a lot of courage, sacrifice and perseverance to endure and overcome all these obstacles which after the riots included greater harassment from many of the male students “shutting doors in their face” and making weird noises when the women approached.
However, the determination of the women was paying off with their struggle gathering supporters amongst many women and men as they paved the way for women to become part of the medical profession.
Even the University of Edinburgh recognised these seven women by deciding to award them degrees in 2019! Who knows, to further stimulate the University's collective memory, they might accept an offer from Mermaids Performing Arts to perform this documentary drama for the University.
This important piece of history is well performed by a confident cast of seven women aided by an anonymous male voice speaking some of the ridiculous things important men once said to keep their medical boys' club free of the women we needed. Fortunately, the lads failed.