Queen’s Theatre’s stunning performance ‘The Invincibles’ celebrates heroic women who dared to face head-on collisions.

This is another five star performance for the Queen’s Theatre -The Invincibles does real justice to the wondrous possibilities of grassroots football – specifically to these extraordinary women – a must watch!

Local activist and campaigner Ruth Kettle-Frisby today reviews the latest performance at the Queen’s Theatre,Hornchurch.

Ostensibly about East London’s own history of women’s football, The Invincibles – written by Amanda Whittington and directed by James Grieve – is about so much more. The spirit of the Stirling Ladies Football Club, or ‘the Dagenham Invincibles’ as they came to be known, reverberates down to the swathes of new supporters for elite women’s football today, as players from around the world begin to rise from the ashes of a lifetime of continuing male dominion, on the pitch and beyond. 

With themes of love and friendship in unlikely places that transcend socially constructed boundaries of gender and class ideology, The Invincibles celebrates heroic women who dared to face head-on collisions with glass ceilings, making lasting future change possible. Women and men learn to recognise themselves in each other; a prerequisite for lifting each other up and cultivating a sense of belonging that crosses the harsh boundaries of deepest poverty and prejudice.

A simple rotating circular stage occupies the temporal space between the times of World War I and The British Lions of the present day, carrying with it the parallel dynamics within each period; a correspondingly minimalist approach of pared-back folk guitar interludes, and crystal clear vocals – notably from Rebecca Hayes – brings a gently textured poignancy to the narrative.

Maya, played by Yanexi Enriquez, and her mother, played by Emma Feeney establish a versatile chemistry, negotiatingtheir way through a maze of ruptured dead-ends to share personal entries in the history of women’s football that hark back deeper into history than they ever expected. 

Meanwhile, at the time of World War I, superbly cast young women yearn for the freedom to play football, and in doing so, to experience the far-reaching benefits to health and wellbeing that the beautiful game carries with it. What Maslow famously referred to as ‘self-actualisation’, is perhapsjust a grand way of describing the basic freedom we all needto lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. The alternative is to merely survive under oppressive conditions of varying degrees of poverty; in this case built on the unyielding foundations that forbid girls from playing sport: ‘I’m not a girl; I’m alive; I’m me; I’m free’, declares Nell, as she reflectson the transformative impact football is having on her life.And yet the volatility of any success in elite football ripplesthrough history, shattering dreams in a moment, revealing the human fragility that lies underneath, causing the two time periods to converge.

Eleanor Kane, the star of the show, delivers an outstanding performance as Nell, her scenes with the brilliant Nikita Johal, who plays Maud, are played with breathtakingly raw emotional range. Kane’s Nell is pivotal in highlighting the absurd disproportion that gives the play its title: that while men needed dedication and drive, women needed nothing short of invincibility to have even the most remote chance ofsuccessfully subverting the golden rule: that ‘girls don’t play football’. 

Our players forge ahead and eventually emerge triumphantly on stage as imposters; scarecrow-like, wearing preposterouslyill-fitting, oversized football strips designed for men in order – it seems to me – to enhance their tribalistic identity and pride. This scene is acted and directed with striking impact, putting the humiliation and cruel irony that the players must have experienced into stark relief. This resonates to the present day, in which football kits, including the boots themselves, are still designed for men, and players cope with breast pain from unsuitable bras; and that’s before we get into enduring politics of sexual harassment, abuse and rape culture.

The cast are perfectly in tune with each other, and riotously funny in their uplifting responses to injustice. Every character had a unique contribution, from Georgia Bruce’s electrical Ada, with her joyously infectious energy and touching vulnerability, to Gemma Barnett’s Gladys, played with quick wit and palpable tenderness. Steve Simmonds does a fantastic job of portraying the effect of learned attitudes that – in their oppression of women – actually wreak havoc on his own sense of worth. There’s a lovely scene between him and Nellin which fatherly affection blossoms from the banality of boot-polishing banter; bridging gender gaps, and softening hearts hardened by ingrained prejudices.

In its vivid illumination of forgotten local forebearers, The Invincibles does real justice to the wondrous possibilities of grassroots football – and specifically to these extraordinary women – whose rare invincibility of courage and imagination silently endures.

Ruth Kettle-Frisby

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