Made In Dagenham

With links so close to home; Made in Dagenham will always be a good choice for Essex audiences.  With plenty of good character roles, especially for women, TOPS have produced a show that was funny, thought provoking and, above all, entertaining.

Nicola Harrington-Smith, in the lead role of Rita O’Grady, was passionate with an excellent display of the emotions that drove Rita to accept the lead in this momentous event in British employment history.  Her powerful singing and strong characterisation brought the show to life.  Stuart Crawley, playing her husband Eddie O’Grady was also a tour de force.  His wide range of emotions, as the play progressed, made us understand just how much it affected everyone at the time.   His rendition of “The Letter” was simply outstanding.

The other ladies were all very good indeed. Vanda Mercer as Beryl was great, foul mouthed, yes, but the characterisation showed us that she cared very much for her friends.  Amy Welton (Clare) was very good, she brought out the comedy in her character and what a terrific voice!  Chrissie Mallett (Cass) and Emily Rose (Sandra) completed the primary group of ladies supporting Rita.  Dawn Peat’s portrayal of Connie was perfectly done, and her song was well performed.  Lisa Povey gave a good performance as Lisa Hopkins.

There were only a small number of men in the show, which was a shame as they had to double, treble and even quadruple the parts.  They all made great efforts to appear different as each character and, in the main, they pulled this off.  Robert Morley (Mr Hopkins) hit the misogynistic note very well and Simon Mann (Gregory Hubble) showed the chauvinistic attitude of the time.

The children were excellent, George Lane, playing Graham O’Grady, displayed an assurance beyond his years, I am sure that he will continue to be successful when he performs.  Sharon O’Grady was played, on the night I watched, by Louise Percival.  She was also very assured on stage.

Paula Harris-Brett was good as Barbara Castle and Gary Sullivan amusing as Harold Wilson.  The members of the ensemble were all very good, especially the ladies.  This was a strong female cast with plenty of opportunities for characterisation.

The minimalism of the set worked well with the use of small items of furniture giving the overall impression.  The costumes were, absolutely, right; although there appeared to be one or two ladies without tights which would have been completely wrong in that period.  Lighting worked well but the sound was a bit hit and miss.   I counted several occasions when the mics were not turned up quickly enough and we missed the first couple of lines of dialogue.  For me, this is unforgivable.  The cast are working their socks off to give good performances and, through no fault of theirs, we cannot hear all their dialogue.  This seems to be a recurring theme in my reviews across the district, the sound engineers are, clearly, not as well rehearsed as the cast!

Overall an excellent evenings entertainment, thank you for your hospitality.

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