A poignant drama about attitudes to teenage pregnancy in 1960s Britain.
Mary Adams, aged 19, is unmarried and seven months pregnant. Forcibly sent to a Mother-and-Baby Home in the north of England by a mother intent on keeping up appearances, Mary – along with the other girls in the home – has to cope with both the shame and the dawning realisation that she will have to give the baby up for adoption whether she likes it or not.
Despite this – and an overbearing matron – the girls’ youthful effervescence keeps breaking through as they sing along to the girl-group songs of the period.
Amanda Whittington’s hugely touching play Be My Baby was first performed by Soho Theatre Company at the Pleasance Theatre, London, in 1998.
This edition of Be My Baby includes new scenes added for several successful revivals of the play.
‘Poignant, powerful and still pertinent… Whittington’s play about yesterday sings out to today’
— Observer
‘You don’t have to be young, female or unmarried to find it immensely touching’
— The Times
‘Whittington cleverly coats the bitter pill of her characters’ experience with the sugared naivety of popular girl-group routines’
— Guardian
