The false prosecutions and persecutions of 900 subpostmasters by the Post Office and the state has moved from a story publicly ignored for 20 years – despite the heroics of some journalists and politicians – to a landmark national scandal, following the impact of ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office in January.
This both blesses and curses subsequent retellings, such as this summer’s Glitch by Rabble Theatre and now the Pentabus company’s Make Good. Interest in the subject matter is guaranteed but narrative tension largely absent. Pentabus’s innovation of retelling the events as a musical makes the delivery unfamiliar but the contents remain a much-read letter. In these dramas, the installation of the Horizon digital till resembles the villain’s entrance in a pantomime.
