It’s 1920, and working-class Mary Mason wants one thing. No, it’s not the vote, it’s a degree from Oxford University.

“I think there was a bit of a sense of disillusionment for women,” says Alex Thomas, head of drama at Magdalen College School. “In 1918 only women over 30 were given the vote, it wasn’t extended to all women over the age of 21 until 1928. Whereas going to university and graduating is clearly a big deal on a personal level.”

University-aspiring Mary is the principal character in Alex’s new musical The Bluestocking — it follows his very successful Ivor and I, staged by Magdalen College School two years ago. But, I suggest to Alex, doesn’t the description “bluestocking” indicate a lady who wears severe spectacles and sensible shoes, and has absolutely no romantic attachments whatsoever? Surely that’s hardly a promising subject for a fun musical?

“I think that was to some extent a public face that bluestockings put on. From what I’ve read, bluestockings tried to come across as formidable because they were operating in a man’s sphere. Sometimes they were sneered at, or even spat upon, so they took care not to look prettified. But equally they had a lot of fun back in college: rather the same as whatever they got up to in a girls’ school!”

Laughing at this description of girly fun is 17-year-old MCS pupil Kelechi Hafstad, who plays Mary in the show. Mary achieves her ambition of getting into Oxford, and, Kelechi reveals, a man does enter her life.

“Somehow a Lord ends up under her bed, through no fault of her own. In spite of what she would be inclined to feel, she does turn out to be a little bit charmed by him. But Mary gives him a hard time, she doesn’t make life easy for him by any means. She definitely doesn’t swoon into his arms.”

What, I ask Alex Thomas, inspired him to write this show?

“I love the period. I think the post- World War I era has a poignancy: Victorianism has started changing into the modern world, and the jazz age is coming. Also, I had just finished writing Ivor and when had I had this vague idea about bluestockings — and coincidentally I sat next to Jane Robinson, the mother of a former pupil, at a lunch. She had just published a book called Bluestockings, and she gave me a copy.

“I read the book, and found a perfect story within it. One of the anecdotes she tells is of a young woman from a very deprived background who battles massively against the odds to get to Oxford, then has to fight to stay here. So I felt it was all meant to be.”

“I think that’s what I like about her character,” Kelechi adds. “She is obviously ambitious, but it would be very easy to give up. She is literally the only girl around from her background, but she perseveres.”

Not only were opportunities beginning to open up for women in 1920, the musical world was branching out too. What sort of score has Alex cooked up?

“The music does reflect the beginnings of the jazz era. There’s a punting song that isn’t a million miles from Gilbert and Sullivan, but some of the bigger chorus and dance numbers very much show that jazz is on the horizon — jazz was seen as a bit immoral at the time, so there are some flapper-type girls at Mary’s Oxford college, who represent the naughty twenties. So I hope the show will represent the fact that the world was changing musically as well as academically.”

The Bluestocking

  • Magdalen College School
  • November 28-30
  • Tickets: 01865 242191