Cast

Synopsis

It’s 1964 but the sixties aren’t swinging for Mary Adams. When 19-year-old grammar school educated Mary discovers she is seven months pregnant, she has to leave her job at the TSB bank and is forced by her domineering middle-class mother to go into a Church of England mother-and-baby home run by a formidable Matron. Mary is set to work in the laundry and shares a room with the tough-talking Queenie. The girls in the home bond over a love of girl-group records, which entertain, console and inspire as the birth of their babies approaches. Mary’s solace is a teddy bear and a record player with her favourite 45 rpm discs. The music plays a large part in the play, with songs from the Ronettes, Dusty Springfield and other girl soloists, firmly placing the period of the play. The story follows the girls as they give birth and the sudden realisation that they must give their babies up for adoption. When Mary finds she is expected to give up her child for adoption, she begins a desperate fight.

Directors Notes

Amanda Whittington’s skill as a playwright has been appreciated previously at BLT in productions of Ladies Day and Thrill of Love. Be my Baby is an equally sensitive and perceptive play. Written in 1997 and set in the “Swinging Sixties”, Girl-band songs of the period permeate the play. It focuses, however, on the tragic plight of pregnant, unmarried young women sent to Church-run Mother and Baby Homes to “protect” them from the condemnation of society.

The action follows Mary and three other young girls in just such a “Home”. Discovering Mary is seven months pregnant; her mother determines that no-one, including her husband, will find out. Mary is forced to leave her job in the bank and her steady boyfriend, and is packed off, with only her “Dansette” and her records for comfort. In the “Home”, she and three of the other pregnant girls, each with their own distinct personality, are drawn together by their love of the Girl-bands songs. Far from reality, they imagine a different future while listening and singing along to the records.

As we get to know the girls, we appreciate their zest for life and understand their dreams and plans, while realising, as they have to do eventually, that these dreams will be shattered when they are forced to accept their situation. While full of life and wry humour, this is a reflective and heart wrenching play.

I would like to thank the Cast for the way they have explored their characters and relationships. They have been a joy to work with. However, I must also thank the whole Production team. The Set, Lighting and Sound designers and the Wardrobes and Props departments have all contributed richly to bringing the period and setting to life, while revealing the contrast between the girls’ dreams and the reality.