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Be My Baby

Amanda Whittington

Thursday 22nd April to Saturday 1st May 2004

Directed by Damon Wakelin

England, 1964.  Mary is seventeen, single and seven months pregnant.  Bundled off to St Saviours, a Church of England run mother and baby home, her 'concerned' mother has arranged for Mary's baby to be adopted immediately it is born.  The girls in the home find comfort in each other's friendship, but ultimately they must face their individual tragedies alone.

Set to the uplifting sounds of 60s girl group pop Be My Baby follows Mary and her fellow inmates as they cling to youthful fantasies of romance and marriage but instead are drawn inexorably toward outraged by powerless adulthood.

author play cast&crew links

The Author Amanda Whittington

Amanda Whittington was born in Nottingham in 1968. After leaving school she worked as a freelance journalist for a variety of publications and was a columnist for the Nottingham Evening Post. Amanda’s earliest plays – Home Comforts and Stand Up Cherry Pie – were staged by Takeaway Theatre in Nottingham pubs. She wrote Twist and Shout for Mansfield based Young Perspectives, which was a hit at the 1998 National Youth Arts Festival and led to the commission of a sequel, Runaway Girl. The cigarette factory drama Player’s Angels was written for New Perspectives and toured the East Midlands in 1999.

Be My Baby was created as part of Soho Theatre Company’s Writers Development Programme. In 1998 it featured in Soho’s ‘Five Plays : Four Weeks’ season at the Pleasance Theatre, London. Be My Baby was subsequently staged in the opening season of the Soho Theatre and Writer’s Centre in May 2000.

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The Play Be My Baby

Be My Baby is a play with so many things to recommend it. It has six lovely characters for actors to enjoy; it uses music in an imaginative and integral way; it has warmth and humour throughout; it tells its essentially simple story in an uncomplicated yet sophisticated way and it has something to say without being the least bit preachy. Above all the play has a huge heart.

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The Bench Production

Cast

Mary AdamsCassie Bond
Mrs AdamsSue Dawes
MatronIngrid Corrigan
QueenieLynda Fleming
DoloresZoe Chapman
NormaJoe Bone

Crew

Director Damon Wakelin
Producer Liam Penny

 

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Learn More Links

Amanda Whittington's website (requires Macromedia Flash)

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