The musical version of hit film Made In Dagenham, starring Bond girl Gemma Arterton, opens tonight in London’s West End.
Like the 2010 movie on which it’s based, the show charts the plight of women sewing-machinists at car giant Ford’s Dagenham plant who took on their employer in a battle for fair pay, all the way to Downing Street.
Arterton, from Gravesend, takes the starring role of Rita O’Grady who leads her fellow machinists over a series of strikes during 1968. As in the film, Dagenham is referred to as being in Essex, despite it technically becoming a London borough in 1965.
The Casino Royale star said she was “beyond thrilled” to be a part of the “important story”, adding: “We intend to tell it with wit, warmth and, of course, a lot of singing and dancing.”
The new musical, being shown at the Adelphi Theatre, is directed by the award-winning theatre director Rupert Goold and has been written for the stage by Richard Bean, the brains behind hit play behind One Man, Two Guvnors.
Goold said: “It’s such an engaging, relatable and vital story and I’m convinced as a musical we can bring even more to it.”
Visit madeindagenhamthemusical.com to book. Tickets cost between £15 and £54.50 until November 4, going up to £69.50 thereafter.
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