The birth of women's football in major new drama

Promising to be one of the must-see new plays of the year, Sheffield Crucible's The Ladies Football Club (February 28-March 28) tells the little-known story of the birth of women's football.

Creator Stefano Massini is the Tony award-winning writer of the West End and Broadway hit The Lehman Trilogy, in a new adaptation by TIm Firth, the BAFTA and Olivier award-winner for Calendar Girls.

With World War I forcing men to the front line to fight, the women of Sheffield take their place in the factories, constructing bombs and bullets. When they also start kicking a football around on their lunch breaks, it's clear they can fill not just manual factory jobs, but football boots too. They end up playing to crowds of over 50,000, all the time unaware something is looming that will blow the whistle on their beautiful game...

Sheffield Theatres artistic director, Elizabeth Newman, said: “The cast and creatives for The Ladies Football Club bring extraordinary heart to a story that demands to be seen and heard. It honours the courage and spirit at the root of the history of women’s football, while pushing into the present."

The cast includes Jessica Baglow (Gentleman Jack) as Rosalyn; Leah Brotherhead (Hullraisers) as Hayley; Lesley Hart (Shetland) as Berenice; Bettrys Jones (The Buddha of Suburbia) as Olivia; Ellie Leach (Coronation Street) as Briann; Clair Norris (EastEnders) as Melanie; Anne Odeke (Princess Essex) as Justine; Krupa Pattani (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) as Cheryl; Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey) as Violet; Chanel Waddock (Othello) as Penelope and Charley Webb (Emmerdale) as Abigail, plus Joy Adeogun (Romeo and Juliet) and Jamie Randall (The House Party).

Stefano Massini said: "The majority of the world's population is female, but the rules and power are firmly in the hands of men. This is what my play is about: a time when a group of women took the ball and made women's football history while their men were away at war. It's a story I loved telling, because it's the sum of 11 stories - those of each of the women who made up that team."

Tim Firth added: “The excitement I felt on reading Stefano’s funny and lyrical drama was the challenge of creating a play that was a football match - told as much in movement as in words by 11 players who never leave the field, who support and fight each other and discover a passion for something usually forbidden."

More info and tickets here