Over a year and a half from our last visit to the actual theatre, we found ourselves back in the comfortingly familiar surrounds of The Lyric. With masks, sanitiser and social distancing galore, it was good to finally be back!
This is the untold story of the Belfast women who stepped onto a pitch in society-shocking shorts and footie boots, a ball at their feet and a point to prove. They were the suffragettes of soccer. Rebels with a ball, who kept kicking their way through the outraged defence of a male-dominated game to raise thousands for those returning from war. Set in Belfast 1917 – 1921 in a city divided by war but still united by sport, the play chronicles the courage and determination of those girls.
Written by the talented Tara Lynne O’Neill of Derry Girls and The Fall fame, and directed by Kimberley Sykes, Rough Girls tells the story of Belfast’s first all-female football team. With a fantastic all-female acting cast and music played live on stage (again, by a band composed entirely of women of course), Rough Girls is a true showcase of local female talent in so many ways.
Guided by musical director and composer Katie Richardson, the live music really elevates the spectacle on-stage with percussion of all varieties helping things along. Mirroring the sounds of the streets and factories where these girls and women were raised, the metallic clinking and clanking provides a sort of heartbeat to this inspiring story.
Tara Lynne O’Neill’s narrator character ‘She’ is a welcome commentator on the times, and bestows a bit of surreal entertainment as she darts around playing a variety of roles from ringmaster to band leader, and even some clever puppetry sees her portraying the only male character, the chauvinist Mr Chairman.
Notable performances from the captivating Ruby Campbell as working class Tilly, Eloise Stevenson as Team Captain Molly and Suzie Seweify as middle class Mrs M make for great theatre, not to mention the rest of the women who make up the cast; each and every one with their own story to tell.
With a stripped back stage set, some novel on-stage pitch side seating for a few theatre goers and extremely effective flood light style lighting from Ciaran Bagnall, this is as close to a live football match as I am ever likely to get, and who would have thought it would be so captivating?
Rough Girls runs at The Lyric Theatre until 25th September, for more information or to book tickets click here.
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