“Made In Dagenham” by Erewash Musical Society
Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

The musical is based on the 2010 film Made in Dagenham, which in turn centred around the true-life events of the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968.

Rita O'Grady acts as the spokesperson for a group of female workers at Ford's Dagenham plant, who go on strike to fight the inequality that becomes apparent when women workers were to be paid less as they were classed as unskilled. In contrast, their male colleagues were classed as skilled and ultimately received more pay. These actions led to the creation of the Equal Pay Act 1970.

But these actions, while causing problems at work, also put the O'Grady family unit under great stress.

You can see why this production has been a sell-out, and while this musical not being a great one, it is a very good one and I will tell you why. Because this is based on true events, the passion and grit shines through and you get behind the women and their cause. A cause though that thunders on still.

Rebecca Charmley (Rita) is the star, well ok, one of the big stars of this show, Becky is fabulous as Rita and she completely embodies the role. Her passion for this role shines through.

Simon Parker (Eddie) also shows great passion as the husband who is trying to keep the status quo with everyone. He also gets to sing my favourite song in this musical, "The Letter" which will not fail to get to you.

Maria Lawrence (Connie), Lydia Page (Sandra),Emily Oakden (Wosaname), Clare Kay (Cass) and Laurie Trott who plays the wonderfully foul-mouthed, no nonsense Beryl are the main factory girls.

Richard Comfort (Monty), Richard Dawson (Sid), Ross Lowe (Bill) and Martin Lewis (Barry) are the main factory lads.

The factory management are James Bowden (Mr Hopkins), Gary Lever (Mr Tooley), Andy Honman (Ron Macer) and Alex Grosse (Gregory Hubble).

Louise O' Louise O'Boyle (Lisa Hopkins) was wonderful as the wife of the management who also helps Rita in her cause.

Keith Butcher (Harold Wilson) was a big hit and brought a lot of comedy to the play as he sung and danced his way through, and depicted the PM as a comedy figure, typical of Richard Bean's writing.

Fiona Wright (Barbara Castle) was also a great success with her fiery - just like her hair - performance. Fiona has a really good voice as showcased in the powerful "Ideal World".

The two civil servants were played by Andy Honman and Martin Lewis. martin also played the Cortina Man.

The O' Grady children were played in this performance by Oli Hickling and Katie Fitzpatrick.

This show has a large ensemble but they never make the stage look over crowded. When they all sing together the sound is wonderful, when the solo pieces are sung, they sound just as wonderful.

There was a small issue with the sound at the start but this was quickly sorted out and ended up well mixed.

The band were hidden away, which gave space for the cast to use the front of the stage, under the Musical Direction of Dave Dallard and Sam Griffiths. At times you may have mistaken the balanced mix for being recorded, but oh no, it was definitely all performed live.

There are some memorable songs in here, as I mentioned before "The Letter" is my favourite, but you btry to keep your feet still to such numbers as the title track, "Everybody Out", "Busy Women". The wonderful tongue in cheek lyrics of "This Is America" and the comedy in "Always A Problem", plus the beautiful "Nearly Had It All".

"Dagenham" has many big choreographed numbers and under the expert eye and choreographic talents of Alex Tavener, you're guaranteed a classy dance set.

Chrissie Oakden directed this big musical, and did a wonderful job. The musical is a long one but having seen it before I knew this and knew where the interval was due. Being a director is by no means an easy job and there is a continuous need to shave seconds off. Wednesday night a full dive minutes was shaved off the previous night which just goes to show how much Chrissie has tightened this show up.

"Dagenham" is not a show that is done often at local theatre level, maybe because it is a big one with a big cast, and I really do appreciate Erewash Musical Society doing something just a little different. It's risky but it paid off, you just had to see and hear the audience's reaction at the end.

“Made In Dagenham” is at the Duchess Theatre Long Eaton until Saturday 6 October 2018, but spare tickets may be hard to buy now!