The third theatrical production concerning the Post Office scandal came to London yesterday. Make Good played to a sold-out Omnibus Theatre in Clapham.

The production is put together by a theatre company called Pentabus, with a script from Jeanie O’Hare and music and lyrics by Jim Fortune. Both write in the programme:

“This project began with the human impact statements from the Inquiry, followed by a lot of legal and computer stuff. Then when we felt we knew what questions to ask, we spoke to ex Subpostmistress Rubbina Shaheen in Pentabus home county of Shropshire. Her generosity in sharing her story stopped us in our tracks. We felt the weight and magnitude of the heartache in a way that we hadn’t before.

“This musical re-telling is inspired by, but not specific to Rubbina’s story. There are over 900 tragedies all across the UK. To find a way to capture the breadth of the story we made our central characters composites of many people. Hopefully this approach will allow many Subpostmasters and Subpostmistresses to recognise themselves on stage, and take some comfort from the communal embrace the music humbly offers. The title Make Good is a challenge to the Post Office and our Government to make good the damage they have done.”

Jim’s music is great and it was a real privilege to chat to Jeanie afterwards. Jeanie is one of those incredibly thoughtful, capable and intelligent creative types who knows the amount of care a project like this requires in order to it ensure it hits the right tone, as well as tell the story authentically. This is the third theatrical presentation about the Post Office scandal. The first being Lance Nielsen’s False Accounts, followed by Zannah Kearns’ Glitch – which focused on former Subpostmaster Pam Stubbs‘ story.

Make Good: the Post Office Scandal is set in multiple branch Post Offices. It weaves together what feels like hundreds of stories, taking some elements which are well known, and some less-well known, leading the audience through the decades-long scandal, and all the while focusing on the human impact. The cast have to deal with complex staging and sound design, multiple accents and characters whilst hitting the high notes of the songs themselves. They all seem to take it in their stride. There are four actors and two musicians, with one actor, Ed Gaughan, taking on part-time guitar duties. There is also a community choir and some very simple audience participation, which we are led through by the affable Ed, who opens the production with an excellent fourth wall-breaking monologue.

The cast are amazing. The energy in the performances are huge. I was taken by the way the South Asian experience of being a Subpostmaster was brought into the mix so elegantly. The music was played live either side of stage and incorporated electric piano, guitar, violin, harp, xylophone and banjo!

The production programme tells us:

“Pentabus is a rural theatre company based in Shropshire, known for producing new work and touring to isolated communities across the UK. Over the past 50 years, we’ve created over 300 plays, supported 120 playwrights, and reached more than half a million audience members. Pentabus brings contemporary productions to rural areas and showcases rural stories in urban settings.”

After yesterday’s matinee, I was invited on stage to have a chat with Jeanie, Elle While (the director), and Mark Kelly, a former Subpostmaster who I know of old and who had come along with his partner Olga, and two support dogs Gizmo and Nala. Mark paid tribute to the production and told us a little bit about his story. The audience asked questions about the scandal, the Inquiry and how the musical was put together.

Make Good has only got one more day in London (a matinée and evening performance today!) before resuming its tour of England’s far flung corners (and Birmingham!). Get along to it if you can. You’ll find all the ticket info and venues here.

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