by Rachel Belman and Elizabeth Charlesworth

In Victorian London, Julia Mosley has nothing — no home, no family, no future. Branded a “fallen woman”, she is trapped in a system designed to punish, contain, and forget girls like her.

When a new home for so-called fallen women opens in Shepherd’s Bush, Julia and a small group of girls are given one chance to change their lives. They have one year to be reshaped into “respectable” women — trained for service, judged on obedience, and prepared to be sent overseas as domestic workers and wives.

But as the girls live, train, and survive together, they begin to question what redemption really means — and who gets to decide their worth. Who succeeds, who is cast out, and what happens when respectability comes at too high a cost?

Inspired by a true story, The Dickens Girls is a powerful ensemble musical about survival, solidarity, and young women pushing back against the futures chosen for them — then and now.

Originally commissioned by British Youth Music Theatre, and produced at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich in 2019.