Be My Baby

Amanda Whittington’s play “Be My Baby” is an emotional poignant story about the lives of young unmarried pregnant women set in a mother and baby home in the 1960’s. Life and attitudes were very different then as finding yourself pregnant and unmarried was considered shameful. The play follows the daily lives of the residents of the home and looks at how they cope with their situation and the fact that they will be giving up their baby for adoption when it is born. They survive by escaping into the songs of the girl groups of the 60’s and talk about their hopes and dreams for the future gaining strength from each other.

This production was in the expert hands of director Leo Appleton who had at his disposal an extremely talented all female cast who could not only act well but could also sing very nicely. The cast included Anna McKenna as Mary Adams who acted exceeding well with maturity, knowledge and strength of character beyond her years; she is certainly a talent to watch for the future. Emerald Hickey as Queenie played her part very well and also had a lovely singing voice with very good stage presences, and the emotional scene where Mary’s baby was born was very well acted by both Emerald and Anna. Pamela Foy as the Matron of the home produced a very good spot on characterisation and we were able to see glimpses of some deep emotions that had resulted from some personal trauma suffered in her past. Erin Bretherton gave us a nice ditsy performance as Dolores acting with maturity and she also possessed a very good stage presence. Alexandra Appleton as Norma was able to communicate the heart wrenching pain felt by the loss of her baby to adoption superbly and also the resulting mental instability this trauma can cause. Pauline Barry as Mary’s mother Mrs Adams looked the part and indicated the typical reaction of a middle class mother to this shameful situation who was more concerned with what people would think and her husband’s reaction than the wellbeing of her daughter. I did feel there was a hint of more to this family dynamic than was spoken about in this play

Scenery was in open split sets and the stage area was used to maximum efficiency although some of the action in some scenes did encroach onto the next-door set. There were blackouts between scenes but some of these blackouts were a little long which did affect the pace of the play however diction by all the actors was excellent throughout the production and dialogue was taken at a good pace so the story could be followed easily. Props were generally very good and accurate for the era except I think the sofa in Matrons office was from the 80’s  however well done must go to Stage Manager Mari Griffiths,  all the stage crew, properties and set builders. Lighting managed by Alex McKillop was also well plotted adding to the atmosphere of the play and congratulations to Lizzie McFadyen for the very enjoyable 60’s music played at the right volume which made me feel nostalgic and showing my age. The music also added to the story and atmosphere, helping to set the time line. Costumes were just right for the era and added to the production and also help in setting the time line.

I did feel that the play touched on some disturbing subjects that were not explored which was a little disappointing however this was not anything to do with the production but the play itself. Congratulation to Leo Appleton for his vision and very good direction and well done to all involved in this production including front of house, I enjoyed my evening with you very much and thank you for inviting me.

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