Made in Dagenham (Star-Struck Theatre Company)

It is probably a sad indictment of the country that equality in its wider sense is still not quite where we would like it to be, despite all the hard work and pain suffered by the women at Ford Dagenham in 1968. However there is nothing sad about this production of Made in Dagenham by Star-Struck Theatre Company but, there is a deep vein of emotion, some powerful musical numbers and a story that I would challenge anybody not to be enthralled by.

The root of the story is the fight (and I use the word unreservedly as it is a 'fight' in so many ways) by the women of the Ford Dagenham Plant to achieve equal pay with the men. You might think that should have been a given but, not in 1968 when females were still expected to run the house, bring up the kids, manage the finances and only take on a job as a last resort ! That isn't something that Rita O'Grady (played with passion by Vicky Bull) and her colleagues are happy with, I'm not sure that Rita expects to lead the offensive against the management and the TUC though but, she finds herself sucked-in and placed at the head of a strike (uncomfortably positioned at times).

Take a woman like Rita, a mother, a wife suddenly thrust into the limelight and the impact is far reaching and one specifically difficult for her family to bear, husband Eddie (a behemoth of a performance from Benjamin Burdall) struggles valiantly to cope, children Graham (Stanley Flynn-Jones) and Sharon (Elisia Brain) feel somewhat abandoned and Rita starts to doubt everything she thinks she is battling for, emotions run high and regrettable words are exchanged. I'm not averse to shedding a tear or two during a musical performance, there is always one song that has me welling-up, not in this production though, there are many, made all the more moving by powerful vocals from a stellar cast, not least of all Bull and Burdall who have voices to stir any venue, songs like 'I'm Sorry, I Love You', 'The Letter' and 'We Nearly Had It All' can't fail to create moist eyes around the auditorium.

Talking of powerful songs, 'Connie's Song' performed with soul by Sally Knapton-Lewis as shop steward Connie (a woman dying of cancer and wanting to do her bit for the cause before she does) is simply something special to experience, almost as special as the relationship between her and colleague Monty (Gary Fereday), one that is deep and meaningful but, not in the physical sense.

Rita needs support from passionate co-workers and she gets it in bucket-loads from the entertainingly potty-mouthed Beryl (Deb Bastable), the rather forgetful Clare (Claire Wilkes), the vivacious Sandra (Laure Leo) and the ambitious Cass (Stacey Lovatt) without whom it is unlikely she would have built the confidence required. She also receives unexpected support from Lisa Hopkins (an intelligent performance from Alice Robinson), attractive, knowledgeable yet generally ignored wife of the Hopkins who is Dagenham Plant Boss (played by Joe Lyons).

Harold Wilson, Prime Minister at the time (and played with comic abandon by Andrew Potter) really doesn't have a clue how to deal with these forthright women so calls upon the only person in his government who can, the scarily dominant Barbara Castle (an exquisite performance from Tina Stephenson) only to find that she provides even more support for Rita to drive through the equal pay amendment before emotionally re-uniting with her supportive and proud family.

There are so many delicious yet uncomfortable moments in this production, take meetings between Monty as shop steward for the women with Sid (Martin Thorpe) and Bill (Nick Westley-Smith) shop stewards for the men who frankly don't have the word equality in their vocabulary, Mr Tooley (played by Keith Cartwright) the domineering American flown in by Ford to 'fix' the problem or Sandra taking money during the strike to be part of the advertising campaign for the Ford Cortina Mark II. However without these agonizing moments the story wouldn't build to the stunning climax it does, made all the more climactic as the full cast join together in the anthemic song 'Stand Up'.

I wouldn't want anybody reading this review to think there isn't a goodly amount of comedy to enjoy as well and many of those comic moments come from exchanges between Barbara Castle and Harold Wilson, to quote just one, Barbara in one of her more domineering moments says to Harold, 'Have you never seen a she-lion bring down a wildebeest ?' to which he replies 'I'm from Huddersfield !'.

It's obvious that a serious amount of time and effort has been put in by all concerned to make this show something special and I'm sure that Ashley Wilkes (Director), Karl Babarczi (Musical Director) and Emilie Walters (Choreographer) are immensely proud of what they have achieved. So know it is down to you to get a ticket before they sell out and you regret missing something that you certainly shouldn't.

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