There are two works based on the same historical incident:

The Match Girls is a play by Robert Mitchell.

Not to be confused with the musical play The Matchgirls by Bill Owen and Tony Russell which premiered in 1966 in London [1], also based .

The Match Girls is a play by Robert Mitchell (1941)

The original text

The play written by Robert Mitchell ()[], tells the story of the 1888 strike for union rights by unskilled female workers at the Bryant and May factory in London’s East End, the first strike by unorganized workers to gain national publicity. Their action helped inspire the formation of unions all over the country.

The script for The Match Girls is held at V&A Theatre and Performance Collections [2].

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1949: Presented by the University of Cape Town's Speech and Drama Department at the Little Theatre in March, directed by Rosalie van der Gucht.

The Matchgirls a musical play by Bill Owen and Tony Russell (1966)

The story was made into a musical in 1966, with a book by socialist actor Bill Owen and music by Tony Russell. The central character of the musical is ‘Kate’, a factory worker, who writes to famous writer and activist Annie Besant to ask for help. The story follows Kate and Annie’s attempts to rally the girls, leading Kate to become a fearless strike leader.