The awareness that the characters on stage reside in a world where they cannot vote for who rules it, and who don’t even have legal rights over their own children, renders the line: “the only thing a woman can own is knowledge”, incredibly poignant. Blue Stockings reminds us of the fight for female education, and of how lucky women are to be able to graduate from Cambridge today. Director Ellen Robertson reiterates playwright's Jessica Swale’s dedication to Malala Yousafzai, amplifying our privileged position in the ongoing journey for global gender equality.

Firstly, I am so glad that this important piece of feminist and education history has sold out in its first amateur production, and it is of course highly appropriate that it should be performed here in Cambridge. Unfortunately, the production did not manage to reach its potential, and many elements served to hinder what could have been a really inspiring play, supported by some very impressive actors.

At the heart of the play are the Girtonian girls. Sophie Flohr, who took on the charismatic character of Tess Moffat, and Lili Thomas, who played the wordly but giggly Carolyn Mouchette Addison, were particularly well-cast and superbly acted. These two drove forward the convincing camaraderie and chemistry within the group. The boys, who had comparatively little material to work with, did a wonderful job. Luke Sumner stole the show with his comic portrayal of Edwards, and also portrayed the desperate Billy Sullivan extremely sensitively and credibly.

However, some of the best scenes were spoilt by awkward blocking with a disregard for sight-lines and a complex set which was set too far back and had acoustic issues, meaning that scenes did not achieve their full potential.

The play has a difficult structural dynamic to tackle: the light-hearted tone of the first half made the audience laugh at Dr Maudsley’s misogynistic theories of hysteria, whereas the laughter in the second half provided by the set (one planned and one clearly not) sits awkwardly with the grave subject matter. Two actors who did very well in coping with the tonal flux of the play were Isabelle Kettle and Olivia Emden, who played the Girton mistresses Mrs Welsh and Miss Blake respectively, both perfectly cast and very well pitched in their dramatic interpretations.

It really is a shame about the sloppy tech and slow scene changes that sacrificed the pace and polish of the production: these were unnecessarily elaborate and detracted from the fantastic performance that most of the actors were committed to giving. The blocking and projection issues unfortunately ruined too many important moments, but well done to the cast for bringing the play to life with such care and verve.

Blue Stockings plays at the ADC until Saturday 1 February