REVIEW: I SAW “Dagenham, the musical”, tonight (Friday, April 14) at QE School in Crediton, what an evening!

Purchasing the penultimate ticket available for the evening, there was a full house bar one audience member and rightly so a full house.

From the opening the audience were almost engulfed by the performance.

Clever set designs, minimalist yet powerful, the skilled use of the screen above and the scenery changes both by participants and nifty accomplices, brought us back to the mid 1960s and the feeling of a significant shift in time.

The cast were frighteningly realistic, so exemplary was the casting, everyone felt perfect for the part they played, the performances so skilled as to be professional, yet to simultaneously portray the innocence and naivety of some of the characters required real talent and consistency of focus.

Add choreography that was faultless and the quality of singing, supported by a tireless and flexible musical support group, aided by good sound management and lighting, this was a phenomenal musical undertaking so well executed.

The empathy with the actors, the emotions so credibly portrayed, qualities so important to highlight a story that’s timeless, not just an industrial dispute in its day, a milestone for women’s rights, equal pay, fairness and equality that we still sadly have to strive for today.

Characters presented their lives, ordinary and extraordinary people combined, strange circumstances, sadness, melancholy, joy and happiness, close and bitter relationships, a whirlwind of emotions played out amidst the surrounding audience.

It was impossible not to become a part of the musical, when the audience stood alongside the actors, in solidarity, in support, in feeling we were there and invited into the cause.

We were there in tears and laughter, literally overwhelmed at times with the empathy, irrespective of political belief.

In summary, what a powerful and highly disciplined performance, so rich in effort and achievement in more senses than just watching a play.

You left feeling that you’d just been in and really experienced a part of history.  Well done CODS.

Martin Mather

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