The Ladies Football Club

‘The Ladies Football Club’ is one of the most unique executions of a story I have seen in years. It is fresh, exciting and flies by at a blistering pace. Tim Firth’s (Calendar Girls) wonderful adaptation is equally as moving as it is simultaneously joyous and tragic. Taking the audience right back to 1914, the show is set in WW1 Sheffield in a local factory in a time when the idea of women playing football simply wasn’t possible. What follows is a journey of discovery and triumph and a fascinating insight into not just the rise and fall of women’s football in the UK but also the difficulties of life during WW1. What really sets ‘The Ladies Football Club’ apart from most other period dramas though is its unique insight not into the men on the front line but the women that were left behind. There is not a single male actor in this production. Nor should there be. The show has the grace to allow the group of women to tell their story on their own terms, in their own words and in their own way. It doesn’t wallow in melancholy. Each woman is their own distinct powerful character. It is as inspiring as it is refreshing.

It isn’t all serious though. Period dramas aren’t usually designed to hold the attention of a younger audience, but this production brings the genre flying into the 21st Century. The Crucible was full of delighted children and adults alike and the endlessly excited look on every young face told me that this is a show that the whole family will enjoy. Anyone who hasn’t already been bitten by the football bug need not worry about being alienated by the show either. Simply put, you don’t need to like football to enjoy this show. In fact, it isn’t really about football at all. The show makes it very explicit from the get-go that out of the themes they will be exploring, the actual sport of football is merely a footnote rather than a headline. The show deftly explores issues of class, politics, loneliness, the patriarchy and feminism.

If all of this again sounds too serious then worry not, ‘The Ladies Football Club’ is tons of fun. It is an absolute blast of passion, energy and excitement. It’s impossible to look at the fantastic ensemble cast and not be absolutely entranced by the sheer amount of pure charismatic camaraderie on stage. Their work as an ensemble is selfless and endearing. In a mirror of the socialist ideas presented within the show, their performances are all given equal weight and celebrated equally within Stefano Massini’s (The Lehman Trilogy) script and within each scene. At its exhalating best, it’s easy to forget that you are in a theatre and not watching an actual team at work.

Towards the end, I was cautiously wondering if the show would manage to stick the landing and pull of as powerful a conclusion as the production so far deserved. I shouldn’t have worried. It was one of the most simple, impactful and powerful endings I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing in the theatre in a long time. There wasn’t a single soul in the audience who wasn’t visibly moved and affected.

‘The Ladies Football Club’ has everything that makes live theatre such a rewarding and exciting experience. It is joyful, funny and energetic yet also steeped in social consciousness, tragedy and a powerful responsibility to its characters and source material. ‘The Ladies Football Club’ is playing at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre from 28th February to 28th March. It is not to be missed.