Be My Baby

“Amanda Whittington, who was the first writer to give this subject dramatic treatment, is an undiscussed yet ubiquitous sort of writer.” - The Guardian

“Has the heartstring-tugging potency of a pop classic.” - Independent

“If this play were a person, you’d want to hold it and hug it.” - The Guardian

It’s 1964 but the sixties aren’t swinging for Mary Adams: 19-years-old, unmarried and pregnant. She is sent in secrecy and shame to St. Saviours, a Church of England mother-and-baby home run by a formidable Matron.

Mary is set to work in the laundry and shares a room with the tough-talking Queenie. The girls in the home bond over a love of girl-group records, which entertain, console and inspire as the birth of their babies approaches. When Mary finds she is expected to give up her child for adoption, she begins a desperate fight.

Be My Baby Consistently appears in Nick Hern Book’s Top Ten Most Performed Plays, and Features in 100 Great Plays for Women by Lucy Kerbel. This production of Be My Baby is Garry's first repeat in the director's seat, after first staging the production in 2009 with Riccarton Players. Such is the lasting impression of this script, he just had to do it again for the Elmwood stage.