The Factory Girls

The Factory Girls is a play by Frank McGuinness.

The play is about five women whose jobs at a County Donegal, Ireland, shirt factory are under threat. It features only two male characters, and these only appear in two scenes.

The Factory Girls was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1982 and was the play that brought McGuinness to prominence.

Ellen, in her fifties

Rebecca, in her late twenties

Rosemary, sixteen

Una, in her sixties

Vera, in her early thirties

Bonner, in his forties

Rohan, in his late twenties

Frank McGuinness’s The Factory Girls serves as a bold statement of the harsh reality that prejudice and injustice actions take place in work forces where women and men are exhausting themselves in service to businesses in order to survive. The characters guide the audience through a heart-wrenching story of uniting as a group for the benefit of all and standing as individuals to contribute for the larger group. Each of the women go through moments of self-discovery and exercise defiance against a larger oppressive power.

Scene One

The show starts on a Wednesday morning with “Ellen, Vera, Rebecca and Una seated on their benches working” (McGuinness 7). They are set in the inspection room of the factory with at least enough desks, chairs, and lamps for the five women. As for the geography of the factory, the inspection room is below Rohan’s office and little else is known as to the layout. The women begin the show complaining about Rosemary’s consistent tardiness. Among the complaints we see a transition of focus from Rosemary to the factory’s many labor injustices. The dialogue among the women teaches us of the poor lighting, the cheap material and the unachievable work rate imposed by the factory’s manager, Rohan, under which the factory employees are forced to work.

Rosemary finally arrives and is greeted by sharp words of correction. Despite the effort to reprimand Rosemary the women fall quickly back into a lighter air with one another. Throughout scene one we see a consistency of playful jests among the women. The teasing and prodding brings a familial nature among the group. We learn about each woman’s current or past love lives, with particular mention on Vera’s current abusive relationship with her husband. The scene closes with Ellen and Una jabbing at one another and discussing the lengths the women go to guide Rosemary.

Scene Two

Scene two opens at lunchtime later that day. Rosemary is alone combing her hair while sitting on Ellen’s stool (McGuinness 21). Ellen enters with prompt instruction for Rosemary to remove herself from Ellen’s workspace. Rosemary and Ellen engage in dialogue as Ellen teases Rosemary about losing her hair. Ellen offers the only possible solution to prevent hair loss is to wash her hair in “Old maid’s piss” (McGuinness 22).

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