The surge of interest in Women’s sport is long overdue, and longer than you might imagine.
Electric Ireland has been a strong backer of Women’s and girls football in Northern Ireland in recent years and is bringing the partnership in a novel direction next month by supporting the staging of Rough Girls, a new play by Tara Lynne O’Neill on the stage of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.
The production tells the story of the first all-female football team in Belfast at the end of the First World War.
Featuring an impressive eleven strong female cast, audiences will also have the unique opportunity to sit amongst the action on stage.
Set in Belfast between 1917 and 1921 and based on true events, Rough Girls, is the untold story of Belfast women who stepped onto a pitch in society-shocking shorts and footie boots, a ball at their feet and a point to prove.
Rebels with a ball, who kept kicking their way through the outraged defence of a male-dominated game, they raised thousands of pounds for those returning from war.
One hundred years on since the formation of the first female football team in Northern Ireland, the partnership with Electric Ireland brings the story right up to the present with the Northern Ireland Senior team qualified to compete in next summer’s Euro Championship Finals in England.
The production aims to bring a new sporting audience to theatre and sport to an arts audience.
“Audiences will be enthralled by this ambitious large scale production featuring an impressive all-female cast, said Jimmy Fay, Executive Producer at the Theatre.
“Rough Girls will be game-changing on so many levels and it’s perhaps apt that our sponsor for the production is Electric Ireland, who are supporting women’s football, at every level through their Game Changers NI campaign.”
“Electric Ireland is thrilled to support the Rough Girls production as part of our wider Game Changers NI campaign,” added Sponsorship Specialist with Electric Ireland, Anne Smyth.
“Live theatre is just magic and we have all missed it, what better way to return than with an original production about fearless women who want to play sport. We want to bring that story to a new audience, bringing the arts to sports fans and sport to arts lovers.”
Rough Girls will run at Lyric Theatre Belfast, 4-25 September, 2021. Tickets start at £12 with limited availability for on stage seats. Covid guidelines apply. Age recommendation: 12+. For further details visit www.lyrictheatre.co.uk.
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