16.05.2018
Marième Diouf (ArtsEd BA Acting, 2015) stars in Offside, a new play by poets Sabrina Mahfouz and Hollie McNish which is currently on tour. A unique blend of lyrical dialogue, poetry and punchy prose, Offside put women's football centre stage, focusing on two contemporary women who are trialling for England, Mickey and Keeley, and two women players from the past, Lily Parr and Emma Clarke. Marième plays Mickey and Emma.
Marième's first professional role after graduating from ArtsEd was in Liberian Girl at The Royal Court, which earned rave reviews.
She says: “ArtsEd has made me the performer I am, and hugely added to the woman I’ve become.”
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Offside – three centuries, one goal and a tale of sweat and struggle – is set in 1892, 1921 and 2018, as four women from across the centuries live, breathe and play football. The play is the result of extensive research into the history and current state of women’s football, including a little-known 50-year ban. Futures Theatre Company partnered with the National Football Museum in Manchester and the Imperial War Musuem in London in the early stages of development, and Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh came on board as a dramaturgical partner for the first tour in March and April 2017 before the show secured a transfer to the Pleasance for the Edinburgh Fringe. This new tour coincides with Manchester United's announcement that it will be launching its first ever women's team.
As part of the tour, Futures has performed at York Theatre Royal for the first time in their 26-year history and director Caroline Bryant was thrilled to have been invited to York.
And why the title Offside? “It's partly in recognition of the joke that women can't understand the offside rule, also a slight on women, and it's also about being off-balance until we can be the women we are meant to be and then we'll be onside.”
Offside is on tour until 30 June 2018 – more details and booking at http://www.futurestheatre.co.uk/offside