Review: Made In Dagenham Darlington Operatic Society

Review: Made In Dagenham Darlington Operatic Society

Invited| Review by Stephen Stokoe

Photo credit: Scott Akoz Photography 

Made in Dagenham – Darlington Hippodrome

24th October 2024

It was an absolutely pleasure to be invited to meet the Essex girls who changed the world this evening as DarlingtonOS presented their production of Made in Dagenham at their customary home of Darlington Hippodrome. And a thoroughly uplifting and thought provoking night of theatre it was. 

Following in the footsteps of historical figures such as Emily Pankhurst and Rosa Parks, we welcome Rita O’Grady, the somewhat reluctant militant leader of a group of ladies firstly fighting for management to acknowledge their worth but then on a courageous campaign to be awarded equal pay with the menfolk on the same grade at the American owned Ford Factory in the Essex town of Dagenham. This action is still felt several decades later and marked the start of better conditions for women, if not only in the UK but across the globe. 

Taking on the challenging role of O’Grady this evening was Charlotte Sisson who beautifully portrayed the dutiful housewife, mother and factory worker – cum – militant thorn in the management’s side with great confidence and characterisation. It is not difficult to like Sisson in the role as she juggles and torments over her duties as a mother and the indignant injustice she and her fellow workers quite rightly feel. 

Torn between his wife and his fellow male workers in the factory is husband Eddie, played this evening by Jason Slater and while I am sure Mr Slater, is perfectly capable of looking after himself, through his excellent delivery, it was not at all difficult to believe that his character would burn toast and return his daughter’s beautiful pink blouse the colour of dog muck if left unsupervised by his very busy woman of a wife. 

This show is, quite rightly, all about the women and O’Grady’s fellow factory workers all play their part in the successful campaign for fiscal parity. I will not name them all because they are all wonderful in their roles and it would be an absolute sin to miss any of them out. Well done all. 

The men in this production, on the whole, do not come out in a particularly good light. I suppose shop steward, Monty (Julian Cound) as the union rep of the ladies comes out as the most sympathetic and it is quite difficult not to like him as he is bullied and cajoled by pretty much everyone. 

Beyond the management at Ford (UK) Dagenham, there is general unrest in the country as a whole and Prime Minister Harold Wilson (Neil Harland) plays a fabulously comical character and enlists the helps of MP Barbara Castle (Claire Willmer) to try to keep himself and his Labour government on top of any uprising by the very people they have been elected to serve. 

The O’Grady’s two children, Graham (Alfie Webster) and Sharon, (Cassie Hide) both performed with style which belied their age. The entire O’Grady family are double cast and I am sure that their counterparts Ellen Dunbavin-Lomas as Rita, James Bearpark as Eddie, Seth Cohen as Graham and Abigail Moore portray these characters as wonderfully as the cast I saw this evening. 

There are some wonderful choreographed numbers in this show, especially in the second act. This is America sung by the ensemble and brash American businessman Mr Tooley (David Murray) is a visual and comedic delight. This is followed by a very effective but quite harrowing showstopper ‘Storm Clouds’ which depicts how the strike action is beginning to affect everyone.

The Made in Dagenham band led by Musical Director Steven Hood was outstanding and really brought David Arnold’s music to life. The sound by Tyne Audio was also excellent and the lighting designed by Alex Edwards was also very effective. 

It feels somewhat inappropriate to give my star of the show to anyone with a ‘winkie’ given the nature of the piece, so before I do so, I wish to put on record that I think that the entire cast, creatives, crew and musicians were amazing, but, for some wonderfully performed choreography (Joanna Hand) and for making me laugh out loud, I am giving the stars of the show to Scott Edwards, Eddie Taylor-Jones and Alexander Taylor-Garthwaite for their quite brilliant interpretations of the civil servants. 

Made in Dagenham has something for everyone. There is a serious side to it too which is beautifully and sensitively presented by DarlingtonOS and it is well worth a visit.

Discover more from Home

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading