Made in Dagenham

The true storyline of the Ford women’s fight for equal pay in 1968 is an emotive one.  Add in rousing songs and the show is a winner. The strong pivotal character of Rita O’Grady was ably performed by Suzanne Smail. The feisty championing of her son was the precursor to her taking on the role of leader and sticking with it even as she saw the effects on her husband. Her voice was well suited to the role and the duets with her husband.  In his role of Eddie, Ryan O’Neill gave us a normal bloke bewildered by his wife’s stance, especially in his well sung and moving delivery of the Letter, yet proud of her in the end. Their children Erin Boyd as Sharon and Joseph Gail as Graham worked well together and coped with the difficult singing in Busy Woman. The show delved into the sharpness of business and raucousness of factory life: the factory ladies suitably varied and coarse and the men prejudiced and sexist. Louise Fairnie got her teeth in to the beefy part of Beryl, as did mates, Chiara  Loia  as the deviant Sandra, Holly Marshall in the ditsy role of Claire and Joanna Robertson as Cass. Amid some young new faces, Josh Ure made his mark as Sid and Jay Brown impressed with his take on Buddy Cortina. Well paired were Keith Hewitt and Alison Carcas as Monty and Connie; and Sandra Karolak and Craig Potter as Mr and Mrs Hopkins, all four highlighting the different classes. Alex Kemp was well suited to the comical role of Harold Wilson and the accent and sharpness of Barbara Castle was caught by Lynne Hurst. Peter Tomassi brought out the scheming arrogance of the American tycoon Mr Tooley.  Comedic moments on the factory floor and at Westminster stood well against the serious ones like Connie’s death. The vividness of great numbers like This is What We Want, Everybody Out and Stand Up gave the chorus great opportunities and took the audience with them. Congratulations to all.

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