Be My Baby

Be My Baby is a 1997 play by British playwright Amanda Whittington and is set in 1964, a time associated with sexual liberation but also a generation of unmarried mothers whose illegitimate children were often born secretly in church sponsored homes before being given up for adoption.

The story focuses on Mary (Rowanne Allon) a 19 year old whose mother, Mrs Adams (Rebecca Charlton) having found out about her pregnancy 7 months in, has brought her to a mother and baby home to give birth and have her baby adopted without her father finding out. Mary has her portable record player for comfort and it plays an integral role in breaking the cruel reality of what the girls in the home face.

The play has only 6 roles and each of these roles was perfectly portrayed. As Mary, Rowanne portrayed a naïve teenager who grew into a strong woman due to her experiences in the home. Her performance was touching, moving and strong in equal measures. As Mary’s mother, a woman who desperately wanted to do what was best for her family, Rebecca Charlton showed her ability to portray many different emotions and a maturity in her performance way beyond her young age. Viki Cowey played the role of Queenie, a “seen it all before” girl who had dreams of being a singer but whose real life was much harsher. Viki’s portrayal was believable and her change from strict supervisor of the laundry to caring friend was excellent. Dolores the loveable optimistic dreamer of the girls was very well played by Katherine Saunders, her character was endearing and warm hearted. Sheralyn Allon was superb as Norma the not so bright teenager who couldn’t cope with the separation from her baby and portrayed one of the most emotional scenes in the play when she hallucinates that her baby is still there with her; a very moving performance. The girls are supervised by a severe Matron and this role was excellently portrayed by Becky Howarth. Although appearing harsh there were glimmers of the Matron’s own past that Becky managed to portray without the use of words, particularly with the look and hold of a teddy bear.

The story was set to the backing of sixties girl band music which the girls danced  and sang along to during the performance and which complimented the production perfectly.

Rebecca had set the play in traverse style which brought the audience very close to the performers making their emotion even more poignant and the production was supported with good lighting, sound, costume and props.

Congratulations to all involved and to Rebecca, if this was your directorial debut I cannot wait to see what he future holds for you.

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