Rough Girls

(Paperback)

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Description

'Football is all very well as a game for Rough Girls but it is hardly suitable for delicate boys.' Oscar Wilde The making of Belfasts first all-female football team. 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. This original Belfast story based on true events will resonate with the history of the city and chime with the recent equality movements across the sports industry and the cultural sector. This ambitious, large-scale play features an impressive eleven strong female ensemble with live music creating the heartbeat of the city at the time. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Belfast's Lyric Theatre in September 2021.

Reviews

A beautiful piece of theatre that hits the back of the net * Irish News *
ONeill folds her trilogy of metaphors into a tale that surprisesand shameswith its unearthing of a long-forgotten story of proto-feminists at the end of the First World War staking their claim in an antagonistic male-dominated world. Told with a bold, confident sense of the theatrical, it bodes well for future offerings, not least given a relishable gusto that favourably calls to mind the zesty iconoclasm of Joan Littlewoods Theatre Royal Stratford East ensemble at its best. * British Theatre Guide *
There was no heckling here for our Rough Girls, and whilst we had to cheer them on from the sidelines in a socially distanced standing ovation it is moreover a sign of the times that great theatre is back. * Love Belfast *
ONeills script is eloquent and gorgeously layered. Its the perfect mix of high drama and comedy, and makes seamless references to essential Irish history. * The Stage *

Author Bio

Tara Lynne O'Neil was born and is based in Belfast. Most recently Tara Lynne appeared in the Lyrics production of The Nativity: What the Donkey Saw. Tara was last seen on stage in Shirley Valentine at the Lyric Theatre. She can also now be seen as Ma Mary in the highly successful Derry Girls. Tara Lynnes theatre credits include: The Hypochondriac (Lyric), Somewhere Over the Balcony (Balcony Productions), Educating Rita (Lyric), Liverpool Boat (Queens Festival), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Bruiser Theatre) and Jane Eyre, Of Mice and Men and Sarah in Translations (Lyric). As a writer, Tara Lynne has recently had her play Rough Girls commissioned by the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.