Lionesses illustrates in words and music the struggle of women’s football over the last 100 years. Despite being banned from participating in the sport for most of the 20th century, women have managed to triumph over the prejudices and barriers described in this part fact, part fictional story. The story takes place over 3 timelines opening up at a future time moving to 1914 for Act 1 and then to 1970 for Act 2. There is an epilogue which brings us back to the future time bringing the story to a conclusion.

PROLOGUE

After a brief introduction to the Ladies world cup and the English squad from the TV sports presenters we see the English manager talking to the team who subsequently introduce themselves in a song. Lotte the main protagonist is a new addition to the squad and starts to sing about her long line of female relatives who played football, taking the show back in time to 1914.

ACT 1

Much of this act takes place in a munitions factory where we see Lotte and her co workers discuss their love interests. Lotte is engaged to James who is away fighting in the war and sings of her love for him. Grace has her eye on the factory owner’s son Augustus who she intends to seduce with the hope of marriage and a ticket out of poverty. The women in the factory play football in their lunch breaks eventually raising money for charity. Lotte learns that James has been killed in action and Grace becomes the love interest of Augustus. Their relationship is one where she presents herself as the woman she thinks Augustus wants: submissive, simple and doting. He is presented as idiotic, self-obsessed and out of touch, being unaware that the factory is no longer manufacturing glass.

As the football team becomes more successful they start to raise money not only for ex servicemen but also for organisations such as the miners who were on strike. Grace accidentally tells Augustus where the money is going and he becomes outraged believing they are now funding communists and the Irish. He tries to get Theodore (chairman of the FA) to ban football but instead Theodore, who likes the idea of watching women prefers changing the rules for a more feminine version of football. The Act ends with the famous match of Dick Kerr Ladies playing the Maybury brothers’ ladies football team, a 1920s match where 53,000 fans attended. The game is cancelled midway due to the new rules and what ensues is a riot with the footballers refusing to stop, the fans objecting and the police arresting people. Grace is distraught as Augustus has not only caused this riot but also tells Grace he never had any intention of marrying her, a common working class girl.

ACT 2

Later in the early 1970s women have continued playing football after rule changes made by the FA which included the pitch significantly reduced in size and the ball made much bigger and lighter (balloon like). Ladies football has become a laughing stock. We meet Lotte who is the granddaughter of 1914 Lotte and is both a member of a women’s ELF team and Lanchester United. She and the other team mates go along with the ridiculous ELF rules to hide the fact that they are actually playing football in a professional team disguised as men to train for the Mexico women’s world cup. All of the players are women with the only man being Jimmy. He falls in love with Lotte and unaware she is a woman he is romantically conflicted. Short of a female team member, Grace is recruited and she helps raise money to fund the team going to Mexico. At first her wealthy footballer fiance Gus, is duped into agreeing to give money but it later becomes clear he supported her all along . They go to Mexico and play in the women’s soccer world cup. Treated like film stars in Mexico the team truly believes they have achieved world fame only to return to the UK and be utterly ignored. The Act ends with Jimmy asking Lotte for her hand in marriage and Grace suggests a double wedding.

EPILOGUE - THE FANTASY FUTURE

It is now the near future and we see the England women’s soccer squad preparing to play Germany in the world cup final. The English squad react to Lotte’s stories and are shocked at how women were treated especially once WW1 had ended, having no rights, no votes, no money or property. The current era is a future time when women’s football is as popular as men’s with equal pay and matches taking place in the main football stadiums. The German and English captain discover they both had male relatives who played in the 1914 Christmas day football match and embrace prior to the start of the game. The scene ends with the teams running on to the pitch to start the game and a big song concludes.

ANDREA VICARI - COMPOSER and LYRICIST

We have written and composed a musical about women’s football and recorded some of the tracks. Given the media attention to the recent women’s world cup now is the time for the development of their stories. The struggle for women is still ongoing as demonstrated in the recent problems in the Spanish team and the infamous kiss.

Currently the musical is written but not yet performed. We are really keen to move to the next stage of rehearsing and performing. Raising awareness of women’s football can be achieved not only through the game itself and all the positive steps seen recently (aims to put Saturday afternoon TV slot at 3pm as priority for women’s football, more games played on the main football grounds and increased pay and prize money); but also through the medium of Musical Theatre. By having a musical based on women in football there may be a way to connect with young girls to realise their potential and send the message that they too can play this game. There is also the hope that the show could be become very popular and raise awareness of women in sport.

We are looking to connect with organisations and individuals to endorse our show and also for possible sponsors to take the show to the next level. If you would like to donate please contact us through this email or via our website. Alternatively you can contribute by purchasing the songs via  Bandcamp