Be My Baby

The Rose Bowl Awards for Amateur Drama & Music visited our theatre for Be My Baby on 4th April 2025, here is what they had to say:

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The Swinging ’60s was an era typified by a quest for freedom, free love and free thinking but despite this, certain stigmas in society remained. One of them was how people viewed single girls who became pregnant. In the middle of the decade there were 200,000 adoptions a year and most of them were the offspring of young women who had been discreetly sent away to mother-and-baby homes. These were usually run by the Church. Girls went there to give birth, with the baby being taken away for adoption before the mother went back home as though nothing had happened and with her reputation intact.
This is the basis for Amanda Whittington’s play Be My Baby which begins with 19-year-old Mary, an intelligent cashier at the Trustee Savings Bank, arriving at a home in the country. She’s seven months pregnant and is carrying the baby of her boyfriend who is a medical student. Her mother accompanies her to the home; her father doesn’t even know about her condition. Along with the tough-talking Queenie, naive Dolores, and heavily pregnant Norma, the girls work in the laundry and keep each other going. Thanks to Mary’s record player, they bond over a love of 1960 girl groups, which entertain, console and inspire the girls as they come to terms with their advancing pregnancies. When Mary sees the trauma Norma goes through after she is forced to give up her baby for adoption, she begins a desperate fight to keep her child. However, before she can make her escape, nature takes its course and Mary is brought face to face with her newborn daughter sooner than she expected.

SETTING
There was excellent use of the stage area which was divided into three sets – the Laundry, Matrons Office and a Bedroom. All three sets not only different wallpaper but also had applicable furnishings which fitted the era of the play with such extras as beds in the bedroom, a clothes line in the laundry and desk plus bookcase, filing cabinet and telephone in the office with a painting and a cross on the wall.

LIGHTING AND MUSIC
Whichever set was used for a scene was defined by a good lighting plot which meant it stood out from the rest of the stage. Faces could always be clearly seen and there was no shadowing. Nice dimming of lights for the evening bedroom scene.
Other technical input included lots of sixties music prior to 1964 which helped to set the scene and the plot, the cast also sang along to these records very nicely, singing in harmony on occasions with the addition of extras such as the fun mop dance! Brought back some great memories of music from the past!

COSTUMES AND PROPS
A good range of era appropriate costumes – Mrs Adams in headscarf clutching handbag, ‘best’ coat with fur cuffs; Matron in her uniform; blue matching smocks for the girls and then nightclothes later. Make-up and hair were of the right time too – loved the beehive!
Quite a variety of props needed ranging from suitcases to mops, gramophones and cigarettes, and good to see that they too were of the right era and in the right place at the right time when needed.

STAGE MANAGEMENT AND DIRECTION
Evidence of sound and yet sensitive management and direction throughout this production. Not an easy subject matter to cover and although there are both lighter and darker moments at times, these were handled well – eliciting the odd smile rather than laugh, the odd sad expression rather than tears from the audience. Pace was good – not a play that should be rushed but nor should it grind slowly and the balance achieved was spot on.

PERFORMERS
MARY
A very creditable performance as Mary, you reluctantly had to admit that being an unmarried mother with a child would work against you and eventually had to face up to the fact that despite your intelligence and background, you would lose your baby like all the other girls. You portrayed Mary’s multi-layered character well and gave a lovely heartfelt performance of a young girl gradually growing in confidence, trying to arrange your own future after finding out that your baby is going to be adopted, but unfortunately disappointed to find that no one will give a single mother a job. You went from looking crushed by your job refusals to defiantly deciding to leave with Queenie and finally angry with your mother. Some good realism shown in relation to your labour – continually rubbing your bump and also the labour scene itself. A good range of different, but believable, emotions shown throughout.

MRS ADAMS
This was a good performance as Mary’s middle-class, nervy mother who couldn’t accept that her daughter had made as big a mistake as the other girls in the home, and that really ‘she’s a good girl’ as you told Matron. Maternal concern was evident as you showed panic about the meal containing onions, which Mary couldn’t eat! Right from the beginning you looked uncomfortable at being there in Matron’s office, with the weight of the world on your shoulders, but somehow managing to convey an air of ‘doing the right thing’. You expertly showed your character’s vulnerability behind the stern exterior that you showed to the outside world which was captured well, especially at the end when you revealed your past and your vulnerability to Matron, yet were still able to ignore Mary’s comments about the baby.

MATRON
Seemingly detached, stern and practical, yet eventually you dropped your guard at the end and showed how affected you were by each and every single birth. You played this role well, and came across as strict and a stickler for the rules, but we also felt that underneath you had some understanding and sympathy for the girls’ and did your duty quelling any worries they may have had. You dealt with each of the girls appropriately according to their individual needs and personalities. Exuding an air of business with a sense of kindness, you showed quiet control over seeing Mrs Adams out and taking sweets from Mary. You showed compassion over Mary’s job refusals yet also conveyed to us that this is what you had expected.

QUEENIE
Mary’s room mate Queenie you skilfully got us on your side with your rebellious attitude which masked the hurt as you recognised only too well the ordeal you were facing. On the outside you might have appeared brash, and a bit of a bully to Norma, but this was not who you really were. Expecting twins and having been pregnant before, you were something of a realist and saw things for what they were. You were obviously fascinated by Mary’s very different approach to life and personally I sensed some wistfulness and suspected you might have liked to have been a little more like her. Loved your reliving of your first baby story which revealed a much softer, and probably more real, you.

DOLORES
Not very well educated and naïve about the ways of the world, as soon as we met you we could see from your face that you found life challenging. You portrayed well a likeable character with lots of care and understanding. An intellectually challenged girl you thought the best of everyone even though it was apparent that your pregnancy was most probably due to being raped by a work colleague that you trusted. Some superb facial expressions used!

NORMA
A sensitive performance of a very vulnerable and bewildered, almost childlike, character struggling to understand what was happening to your body in labour. It became even more hearbreaking to see you plummeting to the edge of madness with likely puerperal psychosis, after your baby was taken from you for adoption.
This is a play that has many emotional ups and downs, both comedy as well as tragedy in the story and touches your heart with it’s subject matter. All the cast supported and worked excellently together which is very important in this type of very emotional wordy play to make it
a success.
A very thought provoking evening beginning with the poignant The Removed which set both context and tone prior to your production. Congratulations to all involved in this production and thank you for inviting me.