New play at the Crucible highlights early struggles and shows the dissolving division between sport and the performing arts
T
he Crucible Theatre is best known for hosting snooker, but it claims a place in football history too. On its outer wall, a blue plaque marks the site where the Sheffield Rules of the game were agreed in 1858, back when it was the Adelphi hotel. So it is a fitting spot to be premiering a new play this month about the establishment – and subsequent dismantling – of women’s football in the early 20th century.
Football fans and theatregoers may not have always felt like the obvious overlap in a Venn diagram, but the past decade has been a banner one for the beautiful game on stage. We have had a farce about the 2018 World Cup bid (Three Lions), a Royal Court drama about homophobia (The Pass), a Pulitzer Prize-nominated exploration of teenage girlhood (The Wolves) and even a 16th-century folk horror (The Bounds). Plus Dear England, the still-touring smash hit that tells the story of Gareth Southgate’s tenure as manager of the national men’s team.
That show – based on the research of the England team psychologist, Pippa Grange – explores the mental side of the game; The Ladies Football Club, at the Sheffield Theatre until 28 March, is grounded in the physical. The director, Elizabeth Newman, has brought in movement expert Scott Graham – of the renowned devised theatre company Frantic Assembly – to help render the action authentically.
