Can A Musical Be A Better Way Of Focusing Politics On An Issue?

“Make Good: The Post Office Scandal,” a musical performance of one of the United Kingdom’s most devastating miscarriages of justice, just wrapped up its tour of the English countryside.

It told the story of 983 British Post Office managers falsely accused of theft, ruining their reputations and, for some, landing them in jail. Later, it was revealed that accounting discrepancies due to computer error were to blame.

“Make Good” highlights how news stories can sometimes be told – and better told – in an entertainment format.

When “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” a TV dramatization of the scandal, aired a year ago, many viewers were outraged that they had not previously heard of the case and blamed the U.K.’s mainstream media for failing in their work. Journalists responded that they had indeed followed the case, some for more than a decade. Audiences, they said, had simply not been listening.

“A complete story taken in one sitting has an impact on you in the way that 3,000 snippets of news through your social media or radio or television just can’t,” says Jeanie O’Hare, writer of “Make Good.” “I think that’s the way our imaginations work.”

It was a stage show that defied the norm, re-creating one of the United Kingdom’s most devastating miscarriages of justice.

And “Make Good: The Post Office Scandal” did it as a musical. There were choreographed dance numbers, power ballads, and pounding rock riffs.

But as this show toured sleepy village halls across England, it also told the story of 983 British Post Office managers falsely accused of theft: allegations that destroyed their reputations, livelihoods, and, for some, landed them in jail. Later, it was revealed that accounting discrepancies due to errors in the Post Office’s Horizon computer system were to blame – a fact that the 364-year-old institution repeatedly tried to cover up.

“Make Good,” which wrapped up in early December after six weeks on the road, highlights how news stories can sometimes be told – and better told – in an entertainment format. Like the drama series about the Post Office scandal aired a year ago, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” dramatizations of the news can often draw more attention to an event. They can also build public pressure for injustices to be addressed. And that can happen even when the media did due diligence in covering the news when it happened. Entertainment just seems to hit differently.

“Theater is the best empathy machine we’ve ever built. You start to think about someone else’s worldview, start to stand in their shoes,” says Jeanie O’Hare, writer of “Make Good.” “I do think it makes stories cut through.”

Seeing the drama, missing the news

Watching the musical on a winter’s night in Marsden, a village tucked among the hills of northern England, many in the audience are visibly moved. There are four actors on stage, but also live musicians and a community choir; the room is crowded. As the show builds to a finale, the sound pushes in from all sides.