The post office scandal rocked the nation and is still ongoing now as people continue their search for justice. This became the inspiration behind Pentabus Theatre’s show Make Good: The Post Office Scandal, which was developed in collaboration with affected sub-postmasters and featured in the BBC, ITV, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Stage, and more. The show has so far raised more than £3,000 for the Horizon Scandal Fund, which supports sub-postmasters as they wait for justice.
Following this show, I got the wonderful chance to interview Charlotte Delima and Samuel Gorsani, who both made their stage debuts as performers in a musical. Both Charlotte and Samuel are of South Asian heritage and were proud to represent communities that have been disproportionately affected by the Post Office Scandal, widely acknowledged as one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in British history.
Charlotte and Samuel were a delight to interview; the pair discussed the process of bringing such a show together, what they personally took from the show, and the ever-so-exciting news of their Stage Debut Award nominations! And I even quizzed them on whether they had anything more to share that people can get excited about. Read on to see what they both had to say…
Note: These answers are exactly as I received them, and Charlotte and Sam’s responses have not been altered in any way, shape or form.
Hello to you both, and thank you so much for your time for this interview!
Let’s start easy; can you please introduce yourselves?
Charlotte: Hi! My name is Charlotte Delima!
Sam: Ayup! I’m Sam. Samuel in the industry or when I’m getting a bollockin’ off my mum. I love Nottingham Forest, cups of tea, and my cat, Suki. Obviously lots of other things, but they’re the most important…
You both recently performed in Make Good: The Post Office Scandal. For those reading who may not know, can you tell us a little bit about the show?
Charlotte: Make Good is a new musical that looks at the lives of the postmasters and mistresses who were deeply affected by the Horizon Scandal. This was an ongoing scandal whereby the Horizon till system would report financial figures incorrectly, meaning the post masters had to pay off the debt themselves and slowly grew to lose everything they owned to pay off this wrongly incurred debt.
Sam: Make Good delves into the personal lives of 3 sub-postmasters all whom were wrongly convicted as a consequence of the post office scandal. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT system made it look like money was missing from branch accounts. The ITV drama did a lot of the ground work for us in allowing people a bit more of an understanding of the scandal, which was actually brilliant as it allowed us to really focus on the emotional reality of these individual lives and those affected around them. The 3 characters we follow are fictional, however each of them are extremely delicately crafted through absolute truth from a multitude of stories. All to say, this show is 100% truth, told through the eyes of the fictional characters in Make Good, in order to tell the whole story, instead of only 3.
What made this experience different from previous jobs?
Charlotte: Well this was my first job out of drama school, and I used to work in marketing so pretty much every little bit of it was entirely different to my previous jobs! Getting to do the work that I really love and tell important stories, that was really important to me, and I loved being able to immerse myself in the whole process.
Sam: I’ve never done a musical before! That was pretty different. I think all jobs come with their differences really, but this felt very new. I’d mainly worked in the world of fiction before, so to tell this story came with a much greater weight and responsibility. The nature of the job was quite relentless, in a great way. We drove a big van up and down the country, making sure audiences in the most remote places could see the show. I remember driving through the High Peaks, totally snow covered, in order to get to our next venue… I guess that’s different to the norm.
The Post Office scandal was of course widely covered in mass media and has recently been retold in a television series, but a musical is probably not the medium most people would think of when it comes to these heart-wrenching and very real moments in british history; so what insight can you give us about how it translates into a musical theatre show?
Charlotte: I think it’s easy to forget that you have to have a reason to burst into song. With this show, all of the songs are big expressions of grief, shame and trauma for the characters. They sing because they don’t have any words left to describe what is happening to them and how to process the emotions and fear that has taken over their lives.
I think Jim’s [Jim Fortune, Music and Lyrics] music is just unreal, he is a beautiful composer and has created some incredible earworms as well as deeply felt moments in the show. For me, it makes perfect sense for this scandal to be a musical. I think it gives us moments of brevity and release from the weight of what is happening in the drama and really helps drive the story.
Sam: Firstly, it was something that I felt honoured to be able to do. I didn’t take this opportunity lightly. It required time, research, humility and a real understanding of the story we were sharing. I also think it’s important to remember – and I say this for myself – that I am an actor and not a sub-postmaster. I can only portray the realities through what I learn. The flip side of this, is that most of the sub-postmasters are not actors, and therefore we were able to work together, along with the creative team, to create a balance of total truth (and Make Good is total truth) and place it into a heightened piece of theatre to make it accessible to a vast array of audiences.
I have never truly experienced what these sub-postmasters went through, but I can use my own skills to share the story they so desperately need telling. I’m not going to name names, however we worked very closely with a few of these people who were extremely generous in giving us their time and stories, and this really enabled us to make sure we were doing them justice.
My character, Mohandas, was very heavily based on an individual who came from a long generational line of sub-postmasters, and understanding the deep pride in this, countered by the dealings of this scandal did have to settle a little in me before I could tell this story well, on behalf of all those affected, and not myself. All in all, I guess the success of this piece was down to the collaboration and synergy from all aspects, and one I hold very tightly.
How does it make you feel to be playing characters based on real people, and did you bring any personal elements to the roles, or do the characters remain true to the people they are based on?
Charlotte: I was pretty scared to start with! I wanted to be faithful to the people that had suffered so much because of the Post Office and for me, the key was connecting to the emotional side. Indira was based off of a few people, so in a way it was a bit easier to bring her story to life as there wasn’t just one person I had to focus on. However, I tried really hard to stay faithful to the ideas of Shame that really run through her storyline as I could personally identify with this with my own Asian Catholic background. I think this made it a bit easer to access the weight of what happened to her and how much her life was destroyed.
Did you encounter any challenges at any point in bringing this show to the stage or when performing, and if so, how did you overcome them?
Charlotte: There were many challenges! Touring is no easy feat and for me the biggest challenge was actually managing my stamina and exhaustion whilst we were on a very heavy touring schedule and doing huge fit ups in each venue. A new venue every day with this physical side of the show was a lot! I loved it cause I got a free gym session every day!
Sam: Our entire set collapsed after someone fell into it the day before we were supposed to open. That felt like a pretty big thing to have to overcome. But hey the show must go on, and in epic Disney style, we got there. Side note: a big shoutout to our designer [Carla Goodman – designer] who had to graft so hard to bring our little post office back to life!
Through telling these stories, was there anything you learned or which stuck with you from stepping into the shoes of the people whose lives were completely and unfairly disrupted by this scandal?
Charlotte: I definitely learned that you need to enter these stories with sensitivity. Not that I wasn’t doing so before, but I would say that the experience taught me to just be gentle with the emotions and how these might affect me in the process. To be honest, the whole thing stuck with me. I was particularly affected by how the Post Office basically acted like a mafia in silencing people and trying to get rid of their stories. They behaved abhorrently and to be able to get away with it the way they did/for this scandal to still be going on, it’s laughable.
Sam: A huge element of Make Good, was looking at the consequences of these convictions from a social perspective. Many sub-masters then saw their friends turn against them after being convicted, even their families, and in a lot of cases, entire communities. We often forget that a Post Office is often the heartbeat of a place. It’s not just a place to buy stamps and send letters. It’s where we can pay for bills, collect pensions and cash cheques.
Since the run of Make Good: The Post Office Scandal, I have heard there might be some exciting news about the show, and something wonderful happening for you both too; what can you tell us about this?
Charlotte: Yes! I am currently in rehearsals for Make it Happen with National Theatre Scotland, Dundee Rep and Edinburgh International Festival. Written by James Graham and starring Brian Cox, the play looks at the 2008 financial crash and the involvement of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Fred Goodwin, who basically caused the whole thing. It’s a really interesting look at how hubris and power can take over a person. In a way it feels like its the other end of the Make Good story – if Make Good was about Paula Vennells and her obsession with power.
Sam: I’m not going to be the person to ruin a surprise… watch this space!
A huge congratulations on the very well-deserved nominations for the pair of you! Being nominated for best performers in a musical for the stage debut awards is a hugely exciting achievement! How does it feel to be getting recognised for your performances in the show?
Charlotte: It feels quite emotional in all honesty! It means a lot to me to be recognised on my first job for my work and I hope that I get to do more of this type of work going forwards. The nominations mean the whole flipping world!
Sam: I still feel a bit confused really. I remember walking out of an audition for a musical about 5 years ago and calling my mate Finn to tell him to never allow me to go up for another musical. (It really did go that badly!) So to have been nominated for this award is honestly beautiful. I’m grateful to have had this opportunity. I worked hella hard and I think we made something really special, so for this to be recognised really does mean a lot.
And finally…what is next for both of you?
Charlotte: Lots more auditions hopefully! Who knows what is next on the Horizon (pun intended)…
Sam: I’m just about to work with Pentabus again which is really exciting. I’ve missed those Ludlow food markets too much I just had to get back! I’ve also got a couple of other things in the pipeline, however I’ll have to keep them quiet for now. It’s been a lovely year though, and I’m really excited to keep getting stuck in, and keep telling stories.
And there we have it! I honestly had an absolutely wonderful time interviewing Charlotte and Samuel; the insight they shared was fascinating, and it is starkly obvious that both of them understood the weight and sensitivity that came with performing Make Good: The Post Office Scandal.
The amazing news of both Charlotte and Samuel being nominated for Best Performer in a Musical for The Stage Debut Awards is so well deserved, and I wholeheartedly wish them both all the luck for their nominations. I feel very fortunate to have had this fantastic interview opportunity – a huge thank you to Pentabus, and an equally huge thank you to Charlotte and Samuel for their time and thoughtful answers!
The nominations for The Stage Debut Awards closes tomorrow (Sunday 29th June), so if you wish to add your nomination for these two performers, you can do so, and find out more about Charlotte and Samuel’s The Stage Debut Awards nominations here: https://pentabus.co.uk/about-us/news/nominate-sam-and-charlotte-stage-debut-awards
As for the exciting news that Samuel hinted at – well, as he said…watch this space! Who knows what’s just around the corner…
To find out more about Make Good: The Post Office Scandal click here: https://pentabus.co.uk/make-good-post-office-scandal
To find out more about Pentabus Theatre, click here: https://pentabus.co.uk/
One Show at a Time 