Made in Dagenham

The musical "Made in Dagenham" is based on the true story of the 1968 Ford sewing machinists strike in Dagenham. The story follows the struggle of the female workers who were classified as "unskilled" and paid significantly less than their male colleagues for the same work. The machinists rightly demanded equal pay and the strike ultimately led to the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970. The musical focuses on Rita O'Grady, a working mother and machinist who becomes the leader of the strike.

The story also delves into her personal life and relationships with her husband, children, and fellow workers. The musical also highlights the impact of the strike on the community and its wider significance for the feminist movement. The timing of this production of the musical feels appropriate given the level of strike action we’re seeing across the UK currently, and the musical reminds you that a lot of strike action has unforeseen effects on the community and on people’s home lives. So, how does MAODS’ production manage to convey such a serious and political narrative as this?

Rita O’Grady was very well played by Hannah Morris. Her character transitioned nicely through a range of states. Hannah showed us her homely “busy mother”, “factory worker” through to being the leader of a “movement” for wholesale industrial change. This is some variety of roles encompassed in the character of Rita and Hannah did them all justice. Her singing and movement, as ever, were effortlessly on top form.

Karl Fisher-Roe played Eddy O’Grady, Rita’s beloved husband, who at times could be supportive but at other times simply couldn’t cope with the stress of life married to someone whose priorities had radically changed. Karl sang his song, “The Letter”, beautifully and you could feel the emotional charge that had been dropped on the stage. He was well cast and performed nicely.

In the factory, the “skilled” team making the seats covers included potty-mouthed Beryl, the slightly air-headed wossename, I mean errr, Clare, then not forgetting the “scab” of the show, Sandra, who is persuaded to do some modelling rather than striking, and the ambitious Cass.

Beryl was played beautifully by Francesca Marriner - she got the casual bad language and nosey interest in her workmates’ sex lives perfectly, without it sounding unnatural or forced. She was funny and her comedy well timed.

Clare was handled nicely by Anna Winstanley, picking her comical lack of vocabulary and scatty approach well.

Sandra was wonderfully played by Mary Connor who really made the character her own, along with some stand-out singing, she was very well cast in this role.

Cass, played by Olivia Simpson – portrayed her character really nicely, giving excellent support to her peers.

James Shields took on the roles of Harold Wilson and Cortina Man. I think James is known for doing certain types of character very well, and these two roles really worked in his favour. He brought Biggins to Ford with a lovely performance of the Cortina song, and he put life into the parody of Harold Wilson and made it funny. While watching I did feel like James is much more comfortable in this sort of role as he does it so well.

Donna Martin played Barbara Castle very well. We felt the warmth and depth of her character come across along with the no-nonsense attitude of the famed politician. While the role can be played in a variety of ways, this take was genuine and heartfelt, well done.

I think the brash American, Mr Tooley is a difficult one to get right. He has to be rude, insensitive, while looking and acting like the top dog at Ford international. I commend Matt Armistead for his attempt with this as it is no mean feat, but am not sure if the character worked for me. I do wonder if this is down to the writing of the part of Mr Tooley, as I have actually felt the same at other productions. Matt sang well and gave good presence. His “evil” persona was appreciated by the audience and he got some suitable boos at times-something that seems to have crept into the theatre in recent times, making me momentarily feel I was watching a panto production.

Connie Riley, Rita’s good friend, was nicely played by Alison Birtle. You really sensed the frustration in her character, and the warmth shared between her, Rita and her fellow workers .

Monty, the union rep, was more than capably handled by Ray Jenkinson.

Lisa Hopkins was strongly cast by Gail Bowskill giving a good, solid performance as the well educated wife of the Manager, Jeremy.

Bob Bailey took on Jeremy Hopkins and “Chubby Chuff”, presumably a take on Chubby Brown. Bob was well suited to Jeremy’s role, but I felt he looked a little uncomfortable with the working-class bad-mouthed comedian, Chubby.

Rita and Eddy’s children were played by Charlie Dingle, Amy McGuigan, George Kora, and Abi Jones, 2 per show, alternating between performances. In the production I saw, they performed well and acted confidently - well done to them.

I did feel there could have been some work between the “parents” and children to develop a more realistic looking relationship on stage, though this is always difficult to get right, especially with a rotating cast.

There are plenty of minor roles/ chorus members I haven’t mentioned, but they all worked well to do this show justice and provide an entertaining (and educational) piece – it’s hard to get gritty drama into a musical, and make it feel both sincere and real- apart from the tap number, (which whilst nicely executed, felt more Duloc than Dagenham) MAODS accomplished this throughout.

The staging was based on various flats shuffled on and off at regular intervals, with a great deal of music playing between such change-overs. The Cortina is sometimes played with a real car which allows models to drape themselves and pose over the top of it, but this production went for a cardboard cut-out. It all worked, though could have done with a little dressing.I would have liked the TUC Podium to have been brought down centre stage for Rita’s big speech, and moved back as she stepped off rather than 'hidden' at the back with a glaring white spotlight. These are minor thoughts on a nicely staged show.There were some technical issues with sound on the night I went with mics being particularly harsh in places - the balance just wasn’t quite right. And the harsh light on the speakers during the TUC conference made them difficult to see, but overall, the show was technically well performed.

The costumes worked well for the ladies but felt lacking for the men. I’ve often wondered at the work the girls put in with accurate hairstyles and make-up, and 60’s period dresses and shoes (except for the children’s glaring white trainers), while paired with a 2000’s t-shirt and shoes for the lads. Minimum dress code for the office staff would have been shirt, tie and jacket for male office workers/management and period clothing for the ladies. I felt like you could have brought a little more authenticity without a lot more work here.

Props were mostly good, but some were great and some were far too modern. Castrol GTX in a plastic bottle and other modern implements abounded. While I appreciate it’s hard to get authentic props for every scene, I sometimes felt certain things were overlooked a little on some occasions-If it doesn’t look or feel right, lose it. This may indeed be nit picking, but the devil is in the detail.

Musically, the show sounded wonderful. Excellent singing throughout, brilliant orchestra, harmonies coming through and the dynamics really working their magic. Lovely.

Joanna Jeffreys had really worked hard with the company, and it showed in the exceptional sound coming from the cast.

Overall, I really enjoyed this production, as I’m sure the audience did too. With good  choreography and some nice tableaus created, Sophie Butler as Director and Choreographer should be very pleased.

Well done MAODS, Thank you for the invitation and hospitality.

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