Made in Dagenham the Musical

In this their 99th year the company chose to put on this musical, based on the 2010 film of the same name, telling the powerful story of the fight for equal pay for women which took place in Dagenham in 1968. Alison Ozog gave a tour-de-force performance as Rita O’Grady, the initially reluctant leader of the rebellious sewing machinists at Ford’s Dagenham plant in their fight against being down-graded to unskilled workers. She expertly portrayed the characters transformation from wife and mother, viewed as being a second-class citizen by the men and management of the company, to a political powerhouse capable of holding her own with political leaders and delivering a key note speech to the all powerful TUC conference. The sacrifices the character had to make in her family life with her husband and two children were sensitively handled. Her strong singing voice shone through in the ensemble numbers like “This is What We Want” and “Everybody Out” but was at it’s best in the softer “I’m Sorry, I Love You” duet with her husband Eddie. Eddie O’Grady, an assembly line worker at the plant, was played by the excellent Matthias Kremer who portrayed the struggles the character had in adapting from the dominant male-role in the household to becoming a house husband extremely well – his rendition of “The Letter” when he tells Rita he is leaving with the children was heart-rending. Morna Eadie as shop steward and Rita’s political mentor Connie Riley gave a very strong performance and her rendition of “Same Old Story” received murmurs of agreement from the audience. So too did Scott Crichton as fellow shop steward (and Connie’s long time admirer) Monty torn between supporting the ladies in their fight and pleasing the male workers and management. The group of Rita’s fellow strikers - scatterbrained Clare (Serenity Harbour), Cass (Lisa Senior), Sandra (Zoe Kinnear McIntyre) and potty-mouthed Beryl (Nicola Gray) – gave strong performances and carried much of the humour in the piece. Margo Fraser was excellent as the no-nonsense government minister Barbara Castle and her solos “Busy Woman” and “Ideal World” almost stole the show. Alan Graham’s bumbling portrayal of prime minister Harold Wilson elicited much laughter from the audience. Chris Tunks was imposing as the American troubleshooter Tooley. Strong support was given by David Saunders as plant manager Jeremy Hopkins, Lauren Macdonald as his underestimated wife Lisa and Graeme Livingstone as Cortina Man/Chubby Chuff. Special mention must be made of rising stars Harper MacRae and Tobbi Wood who played the O’Grady children Sharon and Graham. The ensemble singing and choreography was superb throughout but especially in the “Made in Dagenham”, “Everybody Out” and “Stand Up” numbers. The 12 piece orchestra, under MD Fiona Stuart, handled David Arnold’s score with consummate ease. The impressive set was expertly handled by Stage Manager George Reynolds and his team with the many changes being handled smoothly and quickly. Congratulations to everyone involved in another superb show – you fully deserved the standing ovation. We look forward to your centenary production of “Singin’ in the Rain” with eager anticipation.

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