THE MATCHGIRLS

Book and Lyrics by Bill Owen : Music by Tony Russell
Produced at the Globe Theatre, London, 1966

Synopsis

Based on fact, the story tells of a strike by the girls in a match factory in 1888, when unions were still groping for recognition and mass withdrawal of labour was an almost unheard-of strategy in industrial relations. The match-cutters finally rebel against working conditions in which young girls had their jaws rotted away by phosphorus, and discipline was maintained by a system of crippling fines and sanctions. A grim episode, perhaps, but not many minutes of the play are allowed to pass before the natural ebullience of the traditional Cockney sparrow helps to create gay, sparkling entertainment which warms the heart, yet retains the essential drama of the central theme. The incongruously named "Hope Court" is the setting for much of the play, for it is there the workers live in shabby tenements. Desperation turns Kate, the tenement girl, into a reckless strike-leader, and complicates her courtship with Joe, a docker. Annie Besant, the liberal reformer, champions the strikers' cause and plays a vital part in bringing about their ultimate victory over what was then a callous management.

For the Chorus 

The show can be expanded to some extent, although in the original production every member of the company was an individual character, and named. Additional matchgirls can be added more or less at will, though there are fewer opportunities for male chorus. This, however, will recommend the play to Societies who find difficulties in male recruitment, or who have just presented one of the many musicals where the gentlemen of the chorus have all the best moments.

 

Singing Principals

Kate.
Annie Besant.
Polly, a lively, cheeky matchgirl.
Joe.

 

Straight Roles

Jessie, a flirt and a bully.
Louie, little more than a child.

Musical Numbers:

Phosphorus
Look at That Hat
Look Around
Me
Men
Something About You
Mind You Bert
My Dear Lady
We're Gonna Show 'Em
Cockney Sparrers
Life of Mine
Hopping Dance: I Long to See the Day
Comes a Time
Amendment to a Motion
Waiting
Finale (Life of Mine)

Scenes & Settings

Act I

The cutting-room at the match factory.
Hope Court.
Beside Gladstone's statue.
The Free Thought Bookshop.
On the way to the House of Commons.

Act II

Hope Court.
The Bookshop.
By the river.
Outside the Company's Head Office.
Charrington's Brewery.

Within a permanent basic full-stage set (Hope Court), the other scenes are formed either with simple insets, by traveller curtains or drop cloths, or by making minor alterations to the basic set

Orchestration

Piano Conductor, Double Bass, Alto Sax, Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Percussion