Five up-and-coming female playwrights explore the lives of five women who lived, worked, and made an impact in Edinburgh – including Scotland’s youngest suffragette, Bessie Watson, and the first black woman to study at the University of Edinburgh, Clara Marguerite Christian (10 & 17 May)

Edinburgh has nearly 200 monuments and statues dotted around the city, showcasing key historical figures in the city’s history – but where are all the women?

Part of the Edinburgh 900 celebrations, Monumental is a new extraordinary theatrical walking tour that showcases the real ‘herstory’ of Edinburgh. Produced by multi-award-winning Edinburgh-based feminist theatre company F-Bomb Theatre, the experience will take audiences around the city to explore the lives of five women who deeply impacted, lived, and worked in Edinburgh.

The project was conceived by playwright and producer Rachel O’Regan after reading Sara Sheridan’s book Where Are The Women?; O’Regan learned that the city has more statues of animals than of named women, and began asking herself: ‘Where are the monuments to our real-life heroines?’.

Imaginative and eclectic, the walking tour will see actors portray statues of historical women “coming to life” to tell their stories at significant cultural and historical landmarks along the trail. Historical figures in the show range from Clara Marguerite Christian, the first black woman to study at the University of Edinburgh, to Scotland’s youngest suffragette, Bessie Watson. Their stories will be interpreted by five early-career female playwrights based in Edinburgh, including O’Regan, Hannah Low, Jaïrus Obayomi, Kirin Saeed and Emery Schaffer.

“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. We can definitely see ‘Monumental’ returning over the years if we can fund it, with different playwrights and historical figures – and perhaps even bringing it to different cities and regions. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the stories we want to tell.”

Rachel O’Regan, playwright, dramaturg, and producer

A brave recentering of women across time, Monumental highlights not only the accomplishments of women in Edinburgh over the past 900 years – but also gives a new platform to the emerging talent of the future.

Monumental will take place throughout May 2025 across the City of Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh 900 celebrations commissioned by Edinburgh City Council. F-Bomb Theatre is currently holding a raffle for pay-what-you-can tickets on their website – fbombtheatre.co.uk/monumental