Derby theatre review.
This article titled “Be My Baby – review” was written by Alfred Hickling, for The Guardian on Thursday 5th May 2011 21.00 UTCThe 1960s are so firmly associated with sexual liberation that it’s easy to forget the generation of unmarried mothers who never had it so bad. Illegitimate children were often born secretly in church-sponsored homes, before being given up for adoption. There’s very little research on the subject: until the 1970s, such facilities remained an undiscussed yet ubiquitous phenomenon.
Amanda Whittington, who was the first writer to give this subject dramatic treatment, is an undiscussed yet ubiquitous sort of writer. There’s rarely a point at which a regional playhouse isn’t performing one of her plays, and the text of this one has quietly slipped on to many GCSE reading lists. It must be hard for today’s teenagers to fathom a period of history in which sex education was delivered not so much through teachers as through Ronettes‘ singles. Yet Whittington cleverly coats the bitter pill of her characters’ experience with the sugared naivety of popular girl-group routines.
The story focuses on Mary, a well-to-do 19-year-old whose single indiscretion has landed her in a dour dormitory with only her portable record-player for comfort. Given the current tendency of female singers to emulate the lacquer-and-lashes look of 1960s pop stars, she has a surprisingly contemporary style: very up the Duffy, one might say.
Esther Richardson’s sensitive production features fine work from Emily Alexander’s ever-optimistic Dolores, Jenny Hulse’s distressed Norma and Michelle Jate’s jaded, been-here-before Queenie. But the evening belongs to Jessica Clark’s exceptionally poignant Mary, who begins the play no more than a child and heartbreakingly ends up leaving without one.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010
Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.
