Made In Dagenham

Southampton Operatic Society are celebrating their 100th year starting with Made In Dagenham, which is a compelling story of the Ford sewing machinists' strike of 1968. The book is by Richard Bean, music by David Arnold and Lyrics by Richard Thomas. This is based on the Woolley, Karlsen & Number 9 Motion Picture of the same name.

This is a great choice for SOS, and Directors Rory & Rosie Blincow have a great cast of strong female characters to choose from. The men's cast is equally strong and the whole show is believable in their fight for equal pay and recognition. Amy Wardle has a great sound with the orchestra and singing, & Ellen Goggin has just the right amount of dancing and movement. The set is good and can be turned to make different areas of the stage. I liked the sewing machines. Sound and lighting are just right.

Marie Leland takes the lead role of Rita O'Grady, she is very confident, has a strong singing voice and a lovely nature about her, and you can really feel her struggle to make things right for her family and colleagues. Dominic Sly plays Eddie O'Grady - he too has a great voice and I really liked 'The Letter' song. They work very well together. I saw Jason Talaba & Megan Marsh playing the O'Grady children, who worked well together. For other performances the children are Rupert Ley & Elayna Mele-Chahal.

Jo Barnard plays Connie Riley, the union representative, she brings news to the girls that they are being downgraded. The men's Rep, Monty, is played by Dale Russell. The two work well together, it turns out Monty had asked Connie to marry him years before but she said no, however, they remained good friends. Connie, becomes unwell and later dies, but had written the letter that Rita reads out at the TUC conference that gets them the pay rise they all deserve. George Laidlaw plays Mr Hopkins the manager of the Ford factory and Amanda Peaty plays Mrs Hopkins. She befriends Rita as their sons are at the same school - she is on the side of the factory girls. Mike Pavitt plays Mr Tooley the big American boss, who goes to the UK factory to sort the strike out. He wants the girls to go back to work, so he stops production of the cars so the men are all out of work as well. This causes trouble between both sides, and it's hard on Rita & Eddie as no money is coming into the house. Mike is great in the role - I loved 'This Is America' song with the cast. It's big and brash and very American.

The ensemble all have lots of parts in the show and everyone holds their characters throughout. Each and every person was putting their all into the show, some great bits of comedy, touching moments and great singing made for a throughly enjoyable show. Well done. 

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