BWW Interviews: Adrian Der Gregorian of MADE IN DAGENHAM!

Hello Adrian! Thanks for speaking to us. Made in Dagenham opened last week, and you've had some pretty good reviews - that must be nice.

Yeah, we've had some good reviews! It's been a good reaction, and the audience reaction has been overwhelming, which is great.

I saw the first preview, and I loved it.

That's great! It's changed since then. Rupert got up and did the speech at the start about seeing things that we might not necessarily want you to see, but I think essentially we had the heart of the piece there on the first night, and got where we were aiming. Over the course of previews, we fine-tuned it - it's slicker, and rockets along. We're very proud of it.

I'll pick my words carefully here, but it's so nice to see a large female ensemble in the West End that aren't prostitutes or nuns...

The casting - it's the real world, it's real people, and Rupert's gone for real human beings. This is a real story, and that's mirrored in the casting. It's refreshing - there are some great characters.

And you've had the real-life Dagenham girls along to the show...

We did! We had them at press night, during rehearsals, they did a lovely speech at the press night - we can't keep them away! They're lovely. They're really excited to have this happen. I don't think they realised the effect of what they were doing - and now it's captured on the stage. It's moving to see it through them.

Eddie O'Grady isn't the traditional musical theatre leading man...

No, not at all. He's got a warm sensibility, a man of his times, he's struggling with understanding, but he wants to do. Definitely not the romantic hero, which is why it's more exciting and challenging to play - that inner conflict, that effort to understand something and work out what's happening around him and the effects on him and his family.

Very human, very flawed.

Absolutely, much more interesting to watch, and much more fun to play.

And you have a fantastic song ('The Letter') - a chance in the spotlight.

Yes! The first time I sang it was three years ago, round the piano with David Arnold and Richard Thomas, before they'd even written the show, and that hasn't changed since, it's stuck all the way through the process - I love it.

It must be quite unusual for something to stay the same for that long in a workshop.

Exactly. Things get chopped and changed, which you expect - it's been nice that the song has stayed how it was.

And you've been involved with it for so long - was there a point where you thought, 'This isn't going to happen', or is that always the case when you're workshopping?

You're never 100 per cent sure. You get an idea, and you get confidence in the material. I feel very lucky. Sometimes you're used at the workshops and then the show goes off and gets recast, so I was confident the show would happen, but to be taken along with it I feel very fortunate that they had faith and kept me on the ride.

And I have to ask - what's Gemma Arterton like?

She's amazing. She's absolutely incredible, down to earth. You go into these things and you hear the name and wonder what they'll be like, but from the second you meet her you realise she's absolutely normal, wonderful, great work ethic, and a lot of fun.

Working opposite a Bond girl can't be the worst thing in the world...

I've definitely had worse days! [laughs]

Adrian Der Gregorian stars in Made in Dagenham at the Adelphi Theatre.

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