Made in Dagenham

Not knowing the show at all I came with no expectations, but I had been told it was a fun show.

This production exceeded all my expectations.  WODS really pulled out all the stops for the Friday performance I attended.  Before the show I was sitting among a very excitable audience and I wondered if it would become disruptive, but the show held everyone captivated and you could have heard a pin drop at times.

With a very large cast on a small stage, it could have appeared crowded, but with judicious use of the floor in front of stage and audience aisles for extra room and entrances, the same crowd brought depth and excitement to the story. With little room for scenery the cast moved excellent large props on and off which were very appropriate.  Special mention of the ‘Mrs Overall’ stage crew character moving hand props on and off, she became so familiar there was laughter and applause every time she appeared.

Excellent back projection technology was used to denote different scenes and the passage of time. During the first few number and dialogue, the sound was poor, I missed much of the comedy both in dialogue and song… pity, the words were so important. But this markedly improved after the first half hour.

The production team had obviously worked extremely hard to ensure the large cast would excel in song and dance and the detailed performances from the principals were a delight. Congratulations to Director Lisa Frost… this musical play has a wonderful book and you drew on life to ensure no detail was missed in performance. You managed to create strong emotions throughout …we laughed till we cried and we wept with a depth of feeling not often felt in musical theatre. Groupings were successful and amazingly I could see every performer from my seat and everyone remained in character throughout! Must mention the outstanding finale to ‘This is America’, whoever thought of all the flags in the audience was a genius! Hysterical!

The music was excellent… congratulations to Annie Ford for her expertise with the orchestra, and her obvious drilling of the cast, their starts and finishes were perfect and the harmonies exciting.

Aaron Pengelly and Carrie Buck used skill and imagination with the limited choreography and are to congratulated for the ability to move the ‘whole’ cast on the small stage. Movement was interesting and attractive and added greatly to the success of the whole production.

Costumes were perfect and in keeping with period, several of the ladies were quite obviously uncomfortable in their very short and really unattractive dresses but that’s a minor comment.  I thought the blue overalls with their ‘Ford’ insignia were excellent.

The lighting was mostly uneventful, standard day light with spots mostly accurate, I did find the stage smoke/haze unnecessary as there were plenty of atmosphere already.

WODS had chosen the principals carefully but all  the characters in the rest of the company were also excellent. They were a very talented and entertaining team. There were many principal performances and I was so impressed that I will name and remark on them.

Rita O’Grady- Tamar Hankinson… This role was a ‘tour de force’ and required an actor/singer of great talent. Tamar produced a character I will long remember; this was a stunning performance in every way.

Eddie O’Grady- Scott Riney… slow to get into character but I found myself warming to him more and more as the story progressed. His singing of ‘The Letter’ moved me to tears… simply beautiful, very well done.

Beryl- Kath Back… this part was cast to perfection, Kath had such ability and perfect timing to bring her outrageous character to life… so funny, so well performed,  congratulations.

Connie Riley, Sandra Beaumont, Clare and Cass and Connie - Becky Jackson, Kristina Lewis, Holly Wadsworth Maria Hemming and Becky Jackson- Holly made me laugh out loud and Becky brought a tear to my eye. All five women were perfectly cast and with great skill they each entertained and convinced us with their differing characters.

Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle – Blair Riddick and Laura James – To portray politician so  well known to the public either living or dead, needs immense concentration, skill and not a little  persuasion.  It would be all too easy to present a caricature and fail. Blair took the humorous route… there was absolutely no doubt who  he was portraying with  the pipe and  the raincoat, but the walk, the timing and the little asides were hysterically funny and the audience loved him.  Perfectly judged, very well done.

 Laura’s task was rather different, firstly she was able to demonstrate her fine voice but she had to walk a fine line between a hard politician and the woman inside. This she did to perfection. The wig was great but how did she change her face… with that accent she was absolutely believable, a great performance, very well done.

Mr Tooley- Dave Bailey. The man we loved to hate. Congratulations Dave, yet another totally different, but still very strong character. Well sung and well acted, well done.

Mr Hopkins – Peter Tyrell. Peter you underplayed this role perfectly, with all the strong characters around you, you could have disappeared without trace, but you gave a very good and convincing performance

There were many cameo roles and each was performed very well and was entertaining.

This was an excellent production. You all held the audience in the palm of your hands. I saw a performance of a difficult musical that I will remember for a very long time. Thank you all for entertaining us all so cleverly.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.