Head. Heart. Hand. - Review

Review by Jen

Head. Heart. Hand. – a powerful piece about the importance of education.

Photo by Robin Mitchell

Head. Heart. Hand. by Stef Smith is part of Queen Margaret University’s 150th anniversary celebrations, and recounts the Edinburgh-based university’s rich and varied history. Through a short collection of chronological scenes, set in 1875, 1943, 1975 and 2020 respectively, we meet QMU students from its conception all the way to present day. The play is subtitled ‘150 years of hope, action and education’, which it certainly delivers on, as Smith celebrates the power of learning in the face of budget cuts, job crises, world wars and global pandemics.

The large stage of the Traverse Theatre is left empty save for a mural on the floor and hanging white fabric, a blank canvas which gives the play an exciting unpredictability. Its cast, comprised of QMU Acting and Performance students, are a powerful team; dressed in black, the majority of them form a Greek chorus who punctuate scenes with short testimonials and repeated verbal and physical motifs. These interjections are poignant, and the cast move fluidly and seamlessly together, underpinning the play like a heartbeat.

Stef Smith, an alumna of QMU’s Drama and Theatre Arts Course, won an Olivier for the show RoadKill and a BAFTA for Best Writer for her BBC drama Float. She has been invited back to QMU to create a bespoke play for its students, and the product is a thought-provoking one-act play about the conception and development of QMU, and the importance of education in an era of university budget cuts and course cancellations. Each scene features three characters; the first is a short interaction between prospective female students who will be among the very first to attend the institution now known as QMU at its opening in 1875. They are, we are told, among thousands of women waiting to enter the course, a cookery programme designed to teach women how to stretch scraps and offcuts to feed their families in a time of economic crisis. It is a fascinating moment of history, and the scene is dominated by a feeling of excitement and anticipation for these women who are accessing tertiary education for the first time. The script captures this excitement in golden moments; one of the women who goes on to study housekeeping describes learning as ‘meeting myself for the first time’, a line which has stuck in my head ever since. This is the beating heart of the play, a deep appreciation for education and the act of learning as a means to find fulfilling work, purpose and individuality.

Photo by Robin Mitchell

Of the following scenes, which recount a soldier’s homecoming from WW2, then an eight-week sit in following cuts to QMU’s teaching course in 1975, and finally the lives of student nurses at the beginning of the Covid crisis, the last is by far the most striking. Set only six years ago, in living memory for all of its audience, its characters feel tangible and heartbreaking. Erin Clark shines in this scene as a nursing student struggling to continue with her training amidst the tragedies she is forced to witness every day, comforted by Emily Bannerman as Chloe, who bittersweetly and poignantly describes her nursing job as a ‘horrible privilege’. I must also commend Tanya Scott as Beverly, a confused yet passionate young woman finding her political voice amidst strikes, protests and budget cuts in the 1970s. Cora Todd, too, delivers a powerful performance as a 19th-century housewife balancing hope and despair as she attempts to feed her family with the little money and power she has.

The play’s ending is a beautiful choice from director Bruce Strachan; we are re-introduced to the three women who open the play, still waiting in line for their first cookery lecture. As a crowd of modern-day students gather at the side of the stage, waiting expectantly for the women to follow, one of them wavers, unsure if she can become something more than an uneducated wife and mother. Bolstered by her companions, she is convinced to enter the hall, and thus the play ends with a simple image: a woman told she will be nothing realising that she can grow and change through learning, even if she must hide it from her controlling husband. The effect is beautiful, a collision of past and present students who are united in their belief that education is the key to progress, an idea more important than ever as an increasing number of universities (43% exactly, the play informs us) face financial deficit this year, with many cutting courses deemed less important than others. Head. Heart. Hand. is a testament to the power of education as a constant in a world of chaos, reminding us assuredly that ‘if you give someone language and words, you give them the world’. It is both an homage to those who came before, and an encouragement to those currently fighting to prove the importance of education. Head. Heart. Hand. is a play full of exciting and important ideas, brimming with potential from its young and determined team who have collaborated to create a powerful piece of theatre.

Head. Heart. Hand. by Stef Smith played at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from February 19th to 21st, ahead of its return to the same venue for the BA(Hons) Acting and Performance Showcase 2026 Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th April.

Photo by Robin Mitchell.