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Trained by an Edinburgh man-midwife (1786), Highland midwife Mrs. Cowper recorded 4000 births and no maternal deaths. Nicola Ring and Ness McHugh (Edinburgh Napier University) ask why the 100s of women Edinburgh’s world-leading men-midwives trained are historically invisible and dismissed as incompetent crones. A cut. A cough. A routine infection. What happens when the medicine stops working? Superbugs are on the rise and they’re closer than you think. If you’re not scared yet, Professor Clare Taylor (Edinburgh Napier University) will terrify you.
This is an archived listing from the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Provocateurs: Midwife Crones Fight Back / When Superbugs Kill is by The Provocateurs, listed under Spoken Word in the Fringe programme. It plays at The Stand Comedy Club 3 & 4, 28 York Place, EH1 3EP, 14 August.
The show runs 60 minutes and is suitable for ages 14+. Tickets are £12.