Rough Girls
PLAYWRIGHT : TARA LYNNE O’NEILL
DIRECTOR : KIMBERLEY SYKES
SET & LIGHTING DESIGNER : CIARAN BAGNALL
MUSICAL DIRECTOR, SOUND DESIGNER & COMPOSER : KATIE RICHARDSON
PERCUSSION DIRECTOR : EMMA KING
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR : DYLAN QUINN
COSTUME DESIGNER : KIMIE NAKANO
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR & PUPPETRY DIRECTOR : SARAH LYLE
ROUGH GIRLS WAS A LYRIC THEATRE BELFAST PRODUCTION
Composer, Sound Designer, Musical Director
“Guided by musical director and composer Katie Richardson, the live music really elevates the spectacle on-stage with percussion of all varieties helping things along. Mirroring the sounds of the streets and factories where these girls and women were raised, the metallic clinking and clanking provides a sort of heartbeat to this inspiring story.”
PastieBap
“The way rhythm, percussion and WWI style songs added to the drama via Katie Richardson's score was impressive.”
The Irish News
“Percussive and evocative score”
British Theatre Guide
Rough Girls by Tara Lynn O’Neill was named as one of The Stage Magazine’s Best Plays in the UK in 2021 and was filmed and commissioned for BBC Arts and BBC Four by Stephen James-Yeoman
Rough Girls is the untold story of the women who stepped onto a pitch in society-shocking shorts and footie boots, with 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 from 1917 to 1921, in a city divided by war but still united by sport, the play chronicles the courage and determination of those girls.
This ambitious, large-scale production features an impressive 11-strong female cast with live music by Katie Richardson. It is an original Belfast story based on true events that resonate with the history of the city and chime in with the recent equality movements across the sports industry and the cultural sector.
Katie was the musical director, composer and sound designer on the Production and also led the music from the stage with a live band of percussionists and instrumentalists.