Made in Dagenham

MADE IN DAGENHAM, a musical, presented by Rainhill Musical Theatre Company on
Saturday, 16thJune 2018 at Rainhill Village Hall. 

This was, by anyone’s standards, an outstanding piece of theatre! The production was well cast, well directed, musically brilliant, with some good choreography. Credit for this must go to John Garfield-Roberts (Director), Wayne Oakes (Musical Director) Lucy Bradshaw (Choreographer) Ruth Gibbs (Producer) and the entire Production Team for a job well done! 

Made in Dagenham is based on a true, heart warming story that began in June 1968 at the Ford Factory in Dagenham, Essex. It tells the story of six women and a 20-year battle to get their pay reviewed and re-graded to be in line with that of the male workers doing a similar skilled level of work. Things come to a head and the women have had enough and simply say ‘EVERYBODY OUT’.  We follow the O’Grady family and their personal struggle to stay together against a backdrop of sexism, poverty and a class system, all of which are conspiring to ‘’grind them down’.

The production was excellent from ‘first note to last’. It moved seamlessly between humour and raw emotion with some superb musical interludes thrown in for good measure!

There were so many quality performances in this production that it really isn’t easy to pick out individuals without doing injustice to others, but, after saying that, I really do feel that the following cast members need to be highlighted for their amazing performance……

Holly Murphy’s portrayal of Rita O’Grady was outstanding. From the moment the curtains opened she just took us on a journey from wife, mother and shop floor worker to an unwilling leader of women, thrust into the limelight, whilst fighting the establishment and leading the battle for equal pay for women!   Faultless acting, wonderful vocals, great comedic timing and a whirlpool of emotion, Holly just had it all!  She was well supported by Paul Robinson who played Eddie O’Grady, her husband.  Paul was the perfect foil for Holly and gave a great performance as the lovable husband who went from ‘bread winner’ to ‘support act’ as Holly’s fame grew and was then left trying to hold the family together. Their duet ‘Can’t Do It Anymore’ was so believable and so poignant!   PS: let’s not forget the O’Grady kids ... Mathew Hummerston (Graham) and Maisie Riley (Sharon) really did play their parts well!

‘The Machinists / The Shop Floor Girls’ - Cass, Clare, Sandra and Beryl (Played by Dawn Wright, Katie Molyneux, Sarah Johnson and Pip Bradshaw respectively). All four were excellent individually and collectively, as a group, brilliant!  They brought to life their different characters so well! The stand out performance for me was Beryl, (Pip Bradshaw) a real feisty character, who doesn’t give a dam what she says and to who she says it ... you really wouldn’t want to mess with this girl!    

Another wonderful performance came from Julie Gould who played the part of ‘Connie’ the Union Steward. She was another that took us on a journey, culminating in major moment of sadness when she announces that she’s dying of cancer.  ‘Monty’ (Union Steward) played by Jon Somerville, was in love with ‘Connie’ and was a great choice for this role. His scene with Rita in the hospital after Connie’s death was believable and very moving.

As previously stated, there were so many more quality performances: Lisa Hopkins as ‘Helana Whitley’ the unhappy wife of the Ford Plant Manager.  Brian Tubb, the Ford Plant Manager ‘Hopkins’ and Lisa’s husband.  Alan Harbottle as ‘Harold Wilson’ and Claire Heaton as ‘Barbara Castle’.
Dru Fitzgerald who doubled up as ‘Tooley’ the Ford Executive from Texas / ‘Chubby Chuff’  and Brian Dargie who played a triple role as ‘Sid / Buckton and Hubble’.

Making up this wonderful cast were: Chris McNamara, P.J. Green, Blathine Maguire, Lucy Bradshaw, Grace Hodgson, Julie Molyneux, Claire Jones, Georgina Earle, Marion Hitchen and Maureen Kinsey.  Each of whom should be proud and congratulated for what they helped achieve!

A minimalistic set that worked well, was manoeuvred around the stage with effortless ease by Tony Dagnall-Moss and his team who should be congratulated on their efforts.  The ‘props’ used were appropriate as were the costumes which suited the era and enhanced the performance.

Sound and lighting are so important to any production and there’s no doubt that we always want more or something better!  But, unless you know the capabilities of the desks, the equipment and the budget, then constructive criticism can sometimes be totally inappropriate (You can only work with what you have or what you can afford).  But having said that, there were occasions when the sound wasn’t quite there and I wasn’t quite sure if this was due to the equipment or human error (‘mikes’ not switched on fast enough). This resulted in the start of some lines being missed and in Act 2, the males were singing a song against females ... the sound was different between the two sets of singers and I wasn’t sure if the females were ‘miked’ and males weren’t, but the sound quality and level between the two groups was just so different. 

The lighting was good and used well, but there were a couple of occasions when ‘actors’ on the apron, in front of the house curtains, were stood in darkness delivering lines.  This could have been actor error as opposed to a lighting problem!  I hope these couple of comments haven’t caused offence, there purely observations / constructive criticism and did not detracted at all from the overall performance of this production; I just didn’t want to miss a word!

As previously stated this was an outstanding production and I must again congratulate the company for producing such an excellent and enjoyable piece of theatre. This was my first visit to Rainhill Village Hall and my first chance to see Rainhill Musical Theatre Company; I hope it isn’t my last. Thanks for invitation, hope to see you all again soon.

 

 

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