School performance of Made in Dagenham put pandemic blues behind them

The pupils at Burgess Hill Girls were delighted to be back on stage, performing for an audience again.

With a backdrop set that would not have looked out of place in the West End, the performers pulled off an incredible show as they sang and danced through Arnold, Thomas and Bean’s classic true-life tale of a group of 1960s female workers at the town’s Ford factory fighting for equal pay.

The cast was made up of pupils plus members of the local Ariel Theatre Company, with lead year 11 pupil Caitlinn Dineen performing as Rita O’Grady, who must put family on the line to battle for her fellow workers

Alongside the talented actors, there were the dozens of backstage pupils who made up the production team and were trained by director and head of drama Emma Cassim to create a seamless evening.

Ms Casssim said: “It has been absolutely brilliant to work with such talented people to put on this show after such a difficult time for everyone. The joy on everyone’s faces that they were getting to perform live again – or work backstage to make that happen – was so wonderful to see. Having the members of Ariel Theatre join the cast made it very special too.”

Caitlinn said: “This was my first musical for Burgess Hill Girls and I was so excited to be playing Rita. I feel so lucky to finally perform on stage in front of an audience. It was an amazing experience.”

The musical numbers were rehearsed over many months while wearing masks on stage, no mean feat when singing at the same time.

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