Bill Owen (born ~9l4) was formerly known as Bill Rowbotham. As an actor
he made his first appearance on stage at Cambridge, in the repertory season of
1934. He wrote and produced many plays and revues for Unity Theatre 1939-52,
where he became Artistic Director. For the next 25 years he played many famous
roles all over Britain, America and Europe. He is the author of many plays,
e.g. Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, 1952; Money for Nothing,
1956; The Ragged School and The Laundresses (both one-act plays),
1969. Bill Owen is also the author of a number of plays written for The
Theatre of the Adolescent, a theatrical experiment recognised by the
National Association of Boys Clubs. He has written for television, films, and
many leading singers. He was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the
British Empire: an honour given to people for public service, esp. in industry
or the arts) in 1976.
In the early 19th century the industrial society in England had long
been developing faster than political institutions and public morality could
cope with. In those days, many factory owners found it cheaper to drive young
children through the soot-choked chimneys as cleaners than to use long brushes.
The miserable situation of these children is described in a speech given on
behalf of the Children's Hospital in Great Ormond Street in February 1858 by
Charles Dickens: "But ladies and gentlemen, the spoilt children whom I
must show you are the spoilt children of the poor in this great city, the
children who are, every year, for ever and ever irrevocably spoilt out of this
breathing life of ours by tens of thousands [...]. I shall not ask you to observe
how good they are [...], I shall only ask you to observe how weak they are, and
how like death they are [...]. This is the pathetic case which I have to put to
you [...] on behalf of the thousands of children who live half-developed,
racked with preventible pain, shorn of their natural capacity for health and
enjoyment [...]. If these innocent creatures cannot move you for themselves,
how can I possibly hope to move you in their name."
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was not founded
until 1884.
The Ragged School is set in mid-l9th
century England, when the living conditions for the poor and for many children
were appalling. Cripple and his friends are one of the many gangs of children
who were badly misused as chimney sweeps. For them the streets of the slums
were the only homes and the roofs of the factory buildings the only places
where a little warmth was to be had. The characters in the play reveal themselves
by their names, by how they look, by what they say and how they say it, and by
what they do. They are ragged, half-starved factory children fighting hard for
survival, even among themselves. At the same time, the group offers shelter and
help to survive in a hostile world.