THE LADIES FOOTBALL CLUB. CRUCIBLE THEATRE.

Tim Firth’s adaptation of The Ladies Football Club tells the story of women’s football through the lives of eleven munitions workers in wartime Sheffield. What begins as a lunchtime kickabout in the yard of the Doyle & Walker factory grows into something far bigger: a team that plays to huge crowds and helps spark a movement that inspires generations of girls and women to play the game.

Firth adapts the dramatic verse of Stefano Massini into a witty, fast-moving script that makes the most of the cast’s physicality. The play is rooted in the experiences of women who stayed behind to keep factories running while the men went off to fight in the First World War. Though firmly located in Sheffield, the story unfolds against the wider social upheaval of the war years, blending politics, humour and genuine pathos.

The shadow of war never lifts entirely. News arrives of men returning injured or not at all. Some come back changed beyond recognition, carrying both physical wounds and emotional distance. These moments ground the play’s lighter passages and remind us that the football emerging in the factory yard is a form of escape and an opportunity for the women not to just be defined by their relationship to men as daughters and wives.

Grace Smart’s design embraces simplicity. Her almost monochrome costumes and pared-back set evoke the turbulence of the period from 1917 to 1919. The women appear in factory overalls against a stark backdrop that becomes a canvas for projections. The open staging allows the space to transform fluidly, with uplighting picking out areas of the floor to showcase the women’s footballing skills.

Movement director Scott Graham, of Frantic Assembly, brings his distinctive movement language to the production. The match sequences are particularly striking. Using lifts, balances and tightly choreographed patterns, the cast recreate the pace and physicality of football through stylised movement. Occasionally the words are swallowed by the energy of the movement and music, but the visual storytelling remains compelling.

The team forms almost by accident, led by childhood friends Violet (Cara Theobold), who also acts as narrator, and Rosalyn (Jessica Baglow). Having grown up kicking a ball around with their brothers, they rediscover that instinctive joy when Violet ‘borrows’ a leather football. Mr Walker, co-owner of the factory initially arranges matches to punish for what he sees as their undermining of his bouncing bomb invention. After all ‘men don’t like to be made to look bad in front of other men’.

Their improvised kit bears the initials “SFC”. The women jokingly suggest it might stand for “Sheffield Funeral Company” rather than Sheffield Football Club, a moment of dark humour that reflects the wartime setting. As their reputation grows, proper kit follows, but the initials remain.

Among the team is the fiery left-winger Hayley, played with infectious energy by Leah Brotherhead, whose political bite is never far from the surface. Olivia, played by Bettys Jones, provides sharp commentary by quoting newspaper headlines from the family newsagent’s shop. Ann Odeke’s Justine offers some of the production’s most touching moments, her quiet reflections on the boys who left for the front bringing a rare stillness to the stage. Lesley Hart gives Berenice McDougall thoughtful depth as the minister’s daughter struggling with expectation and restraint. Clair Norris’s Melanie begins as an outsider but gradually becomes central to the group, her journey mirroring the team’s own growing confidence.

As the women’s success grows, so do the venues: from local fields to Hillsborough and eventually Stamford Bridge. Yet the play also reminds us that women’s football did not advance unopposed. In 1921 the The Football Association banned women’s matches from its grounds, citing dubious concerns about the impact on women’s health. The decision halted the momentum of the women’s game for decades.

This is very much an ensemble production. Like a good football team, it relies on collective effort rather than individual showboating. The final sequence, in which each character briefly reveals what becomes of her beyond the story we have witnessed, is both moving and quietly inspiring.

In football terms, this production plays a confident passing game. It moves quickly, sometimes messily, but with purpose and heart. And like the best matches, it reminds us that the beauty of the game lies not just in the goals scored, but in the teamwork that makes them possible.

The Ladies Football Club runs at the Crucible Theatre until March 28th.