Review Roundup: MAKE GOOD: THE POST OFFICE SCANDAL at Omnibus Theatre

Make Good, a new musical about the Post Office Scandal inspired by sub-postmasters’ interviews and performed with a community choir in each venue is now officially open. 

Victoria Brazier plays Elsie, performing in her second Pentabus/New Perspectives co-production following Crossings, rising star and Spotlight Graduate Finalist 2023 Charlotte Delima makes her professional stage debut as Indira, Samuel Gosrani plays Mohandas, and acclaimed performer and comedian Ed Gaughan will play Postman. 

Make Good previewed at Ludlow Assembly Rooms on the 18th and 19th October, and is touring for 6 weeks until December 1st, including dates in Nottingham, Kent, Cornwall, Dorset, Yorkshire, and across the Midlands, as well as tour stops in London and Birmingham. The production officially opened at Omnibus Theatre, Clapham. 

Make Good is a co-production between leading rural theatre companies Pentabus and New Perspectives, each celebrating their 50th anniversary and a combined 100 years of rural touring. 

Over twenty years a silent tragedy has unfolded in the heart of our communities. Innocent sub-postmasters had their lives torn apart and faced bankruptcy, isolation, and jail for crimes that were never committed, for debts that never existed.

Directly informed by conversations with affected sub-postmasters, Make Good dives into this most local of stories, capturing the raw emotions, the bewilderment and the unbreakable bond of faith and family that were put to the test.

Make Good, three years in the making, tells the story of the Post Office Scandal, now recognised as one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in British history. See what the critics are saying...

---

Mark Lawson, The Guardian: There are signs of a work still in progress: the press night performance ran 40 minutes longer than advertised and a rambling preamble could be cut. But this British disgrace grips and appals in any form: the second half was underscored by audience sobbing. And actors Victoria Brazier, Charlotte Delima, Ed Gaughan and Samuel Gosrani, parcelling out dozens of roles between them, give first-class service.

Clive Davis, The Times: With different characters jostling for attention, the narrative lacks focus. Fortune’s music is generic, too, but it’s still delicately performed by the keyboard player Màth Roberts and multi-instrumentalist Ed Hicks. And the occasional audience singalong is enhanced by the presence of a community choir. This grassroots show may not break new ground, but it does have a heart.

Daz Gale, All That Dazzles: Make Good is a charming show and one that clearly can do a lot of good. Bringing the story to different audiences helps to raise awareness and is done so without exploiting the situation. The work of both Pentabus and New Perspectives is not only admirable but crucial with their ethos of delivering bodies of new work to audiences all over the country one that I have the utmost respect for. It is unfortunate, however, that Make Good isn’t quite the consistently high quality show I had hoped for. Though enjoyable enough as a story (and as a play for that matter), as a musical it doesn’t quite deliver.

To post a comment, you must register and login.