The 2014 musical-of-the-movie has naturally been very popular locally, and now this Cortina Estate of a show has been shoe-horned into the Mini Clubman Brentwood Theatre for a sell-out run.

The large cast fills the uncluttered stage to excellent effect – the opening sequence, with its crescendo of radio news and the whole company walking across, is typical of the inventive approach taken by director Sarah Barton.

No passengers on this production line – every performer gives total commitment to the inspiring true-ish story of the struggle for equal pay.

Juliet Thomas gives a movingly sincere portrait of the housewife thrust into the political limelight; Martin Harris is her Eddie, torn between his love for Rita and his loyalty to the lads on the shop floor.

A host of colourful characters. Lisa Harris gives a subtle, and very moving, Connie, whose spirit reaches out to inspire Rita at the TUC. The tongue-tied Clare is sympathetically sketched by Sian Prideaux; the potty-mouthed Beryl by Mandi Threadgold-Smith. Kerry Cooke gives a wonderfully committed Cass, and Clare Markey makes the most of the warmly drawn Barbara Castle.

Jamie Fudge and Allister Smith, especially, relish multiple roles, including, respectively, the offensive club comic and the camp Hubble from Personnel.

And not forgetting the O'Grady kids, Sam Johnson and Sophie Cooke, both giving fine, full-on performances.

Ensemble work is powerful and highly polished; the vocal attack, in Storm Clouds, for instance, is exemplary – Andy Prideaux the MD, leading the band somewhere in the back office.

Michael Gray