Made in Dagenham

We arrived to a very warm welcome from Mary Potter, Stowmarket Operatic President. The theatre was buzzing with people for a sell out performance.The story itself is very rememberable and nowadays when we think of equal pay it doesn’t seem that it was 50 years ago and even today women still do not get this privilege,  This was a huge production for Stowmarket on a very small stage, yet right from the start it was obvious that it had been planned and now managed very well.

The atmosphere was set with the girls machines and the back projection portraying the factory perfectly. Visually it looked  great and colourful vintage costumes portrayed the  era.

The machinists led by Jo Jones as Rita O’Grady were great. The factory banter set the tone. Their accents were excellent and as a Romford girl I should know!   Uniforms were just right.   Very, very funny at times and equally as sad, definitely the audience relating to the story they were portraying.There were many folk who stood out, Jo Jones as Rita O’Grady , her belief was obvious from start to finish. Rae Warner as Sandra Beaumont, Lesley Scott as Beryl, Tony Bolger as Clark. Added to these machinists, we had a terrific performance by Cassandra Fisher as Barbara Castle who in her day was a very strong powerful woman. Of course we had some equally striking performances by the male cast. Matt Bendall’s American accent was exemplary. The whole team deserved to be recognised.

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