This live street performance brings to life the story of Bessie Watson, who, at just nine years old, became Scotland’s youngest suffragette.

A free outdoor performance celebrating Scotland’s youngest suffragette, nine-year-old bagpiper Bessie Watson.

At just nine years old, Bessie Watson took up her bagpipes and joined the campaign for women’s suffrage, playing at demonstrations and events to raise funds and awareness for the movement.

More than a century later, despite her extraordinary story, Bessie remains largely absent from Scotland’s commemorative landscape.

MONUMENTAL: Bessie Watson brings her back into Edinburgh’s public space through a vibrant outdoor monologue performed on the High Street, culminating in live bagpipes.

The performance is adapted from F-Bomb Theatre’s MONUMENTAL, a site-responsive walking performance first commissioned for the Edinburgh 900 celebrations to explore the absence of women from the city’s statues and monuments.

Now presented as a special standalone performance supported by the Saltire Society To See Oursels Small Artist Commissions, Bessie Watson creates a temporary living memorial to a remarkable young Scot whose courage demonstrates that you are never too young to make a difference.

★★★★ A Youngish Perspective called Bessie’s story “a heartwarming story of being so young yet having the power to make such a difference.”

★★★★ All Edinburgh Theatre invited audiences to “picture a tiny girl age nine, piping for a world she believes in.”

About the artists

Hannah Low — Playwright

Hannah is a Chinese/Scottish writer, actor and dramaturg based in Edinburgh. She creates vibrant, narrative-led and interdisciplinary work for the stage. She has been commissioned by the Traverse Theatre and Wonder Fools for Positive Stories for Negative Times, was a 2024 mentored playwright with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland and a 2025 Dramaturgy Fellow with National Theatre of Scotland. Her current projects are supported by Vanishing Point, Imaginate and Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, with funding from Creative Scotland.

Emily Ingram — Director

Emily is a theatre and film-maker working as a writer, director and producer. Her directing credits include work for the Traverse Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, National Theatre of Scotland and Hopscotch Theatre, alongside international digital theatre project The Show Must Go Online.

Layla Rozelle — Performer

Layla is a young actor, performer and bagpiper. She was a finalist in the Young Performer Into the Spotlight Monologue Competition and has performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh.

About F-Bomb Theatre

F-Bomb Theatre is an award-winning feminist theatre company based in Scotland, creating and producing work that foregrounds the stories and perspectives of women and people of marginalised genders.

Description supplied by the event organiser.