Made in Dagenham

“Made in Dagenham” is a show based on a film from fifteen years ago, then adapted for the stage in 2014. I have been aware of its existence for most of those years and knew what the background to the story was - I am old enough to remember the politics of the 1960s and the car workers’ strikes. I was certainly not aware of how satirical, funny and musically rich the writers of this piece had made this time of disputes into. Therefore, this first time of seeing this piece of theatre was a thoroughly enjoyable and eye-opening experience. BROS Musical Productions gave a splendid performance of a mainly happy storyline of life sixty years ago.

The main fictional family being portrayed was the O’Grady family - mother Rita (Caroline Bennett) and Eddie (Luke Henley) together with two young children, Graham and Sharon. The parents had much singing and dialogue from beginning to end and this was accomplished to perfection by the two stalwart actors  chosen to take these exciting and demanding roles. The parts of children, Graham and Sharon children were shared and the pair I saw was quite amazing.

Rita and Eddie were factory workers at Ford and so plenty of other characters were required to create the crowd scenes, union meetings and conferences. The named people ably supporting this family were, Beryl (Sam Irish), Cass (Aishah Stephens), Clare (Dee Bodle), Sandra (Sarah Davis), and Connie (Sarah Callander). All of these well portrayed persons interacted with each other naturally and had some wonderful poignant and witty lines to make us either think or laugh about the current situation at the time.  

Another two characters in the mix were Mr Hopkins (Michael Thomas) and Lisa Hopkins (Anna Vowles). They had a very important part to play as they got to know the O’Grady family and became integral to the continuing and mainly successful ending - appropriate song, “Stand up”.

The final two characters that I will mention by name are Harold Wilson (Paul Welch) and Barbara Castle (Liz Lawrence). Although covering an important issue of the day, these were integral to the comedy of this piece. I considered Harold as the butt of many jokes - not quite so for Barbara as she took on the task of supporting the O’Grady campaign. Her “Ideal World” song was a highlight.

With a total of thirty-four in the cast, the ensemble singing was both tuneful and exhilarating. The scenery was very cleverly managed and scene and lighting changes executed well. The band of conductor and ten other musicians, placed at the back of the stage, enabled the sound mix of voices/accompaniment to be at levels where all the words could be heard. Costumes were mainly everyday home and work clothes and the American scene with cheerleaders and large chorus involvement together with its choreography was bright and cheerful.

My thanks and congratulations go to the whole production team and actors for a polished and most enjoyable evening of entertainment.

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