The 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.
