FREEDOM & HOPE – The Ladies Football Club Reviewed

The Ladies Football Club is a must-watch, says Dakota Johnson, after her trip to see this brand-new show in Sheffield’s iconic Crucible Theatre.

Picture the scene – it’s World War I, and a large proportion of men have been called up to fight in muddy battlefields in France and Belgium, many of whom will never come home.

Left behind are the women, holding things together and for some, in the workplace for the first time.

And playing football for the first time.

This is the premise of The Ladies Football Club – a show written by Stefano Massini (of The Lehman Trilogy) and adapted by Tim Firth (of Calendar Girls) – based on the women who during World War I formed teams, often through the workplace, and played some incredible football to huge crowds.

Set in Sheffield, the birthplace of the modern game, the production is a love note to the city’s industrial past, but also its place in the history of women’s football. Despite most not being from Sheffield, the cast do an incredible job of capturing the essence of what it means to be from there, and have a genuine passion for the story they’re telling.

With a stellar all-female cast (many you may even recognise from TV), excellent production – the scenes depicting the matches are particularly beautiful, and almost dance-like – and funny but emotionally vulnerable script, the show does a brilliant job at depicting the uncertainty and sadness of the time period, but also the women’s new found sense of freedom and hope.

Without giving away any spoilers – the production concludes just like the true stories the show is based on. For some, this may be a difficult ending to swallow, and does feel like the bursting of a bubble. But alas, it’s also representative of the reality of women’s football in the 1920s.

Off the back of England’s successive Euro wins, women’s football has boomed across the country, but the Ladies Football Club reminds us that there was a time when huge crowds weren’t so unprecedented, and only the decisions of men brought this to an end.

Ultimately, the show is a must-watch for fans of women’s football (especially fellow Sheffield locals!), but also those who are unfamiliar with the game’s history.

The Ladies Football Club is showing at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (the home of football) until the 28th March.
Tickets: https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/the-ladies-football-club/dates