Outdoor theatre show to celebrate Edinburgh's overlooked 'real-life heroines'

It has become notorious for virtually writing women out of its history books and being more interested in erecting statues of animals.

But now Edinburgh is to get an outdoor theatre experience which will finally celebrate the most significant but least known accomplishments of women over the centuries.

Actors will portray new statues around the city centre who will come to life to recall overlooked “real-life heroines” and "forgotten moments in time".

Five female playwrights - Rachel O’Regan, Hannah Low, Jaïrus Obayomi, Kirin Saeed and Emery Schaffer - will interpret the stories of five women for site-specific theatre show Monumental, which will take the form of a theatrical walking tour.

It will highlight Scotland's youngest suffragette, Bessie Watson, Edinburgh University's first female professor, Elizabeth Wiskemann, Clara Marguerite Christian was the first black woman to study at Edinburgh University.

Monumental is being created by F-Bomb Theatre, a feminist theatre company formed by a group of university students frustrated by the lack of interesting theatre roles for women in Scotland.

The show will initially be staged throughout May after receiving funding from Edinburgh City Council to become part of a £500,000 programme of events marking the 900th anniversary of Edinburgh becoming a royal burgh.

However F-Bomb will be trying to secure additional funding to ensure Monumental can continue in future years, with other writers shining a line on the little-known contributions of other women from Edinburgh's past.

And it is hoped Monumental will inspire the creation of similar open-air theatre shows in towns and cities around the world where there are few public monuments to women.

F-Bomb's previous projects include creating the FemiFringe Guide, which highlights Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows created by women, trans or non-binary people, an International Women's Day showcase for emerging female writers and a talent database.

Previous theatre productions from F-Bomb, which has been shortlisted for a Creative Edinburgh Award at its annual ceremony next month, include The Beatles Were A Boyband, which explored issues around male violence and misogyny, and won a Scotsman Fringe First Award.

Rachel O'Regan, creative producer at F-Bomb, said the idea for Monumental had come from her discovery that there were more statues of animals than women in Edinburgh, as well as Sara Sheridan's 2019 book Where Are The Women?, which imagines what Scotland would look like if the achievements of women had been fully recognised in public monuments.

Ms O'Regan said: "It feels really satisfying to be able to support the work of early-career female playwrights in a time where the arts landscape in Scotland is so shaky.

"It's a wonderful group with very different backgrounds who promise to give a unique take on these women's hidden stories.

“We can definitely see Monumental returning over the years if we can fund it, with different playwrights and historical figures.

"We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of stories we want to tell. The concept of Monumental could definitely be adopted in other cities where there is a lack of public monuments to historically important women. We hope this production will get people thinking about whose stories are told and why.”

Ms Low said: "As someone who was born and raised in Edinburgh, having the opportunity to tell these women’s stories and be involved in this wonderful project is a really special thing.

All of these women's stories are ones I’d never heard of before - and I think that I probably should have. I don't know why I didn't.

"I’m really excited to get to show people a part of their history that they, perhaps like me, had never heard before."

Ms Schaffer said: “To me, telling the stories of some of Edinburgh’s most influential women means getting to explore forgotten moments in time and bring them to light for people to see.

"Many people don’t know about the women we are researching despite the fact that they were revolutionary. I am looking forward to changing that.”

Ms Saeed said: "This opportunity that F-Bomb Theatre has given me is truly appreciated at this point in my career.”