Amanda Whittington's

Be My Baby

Writer
Amanda Whittington

Director
Blythe Stewart

Location
The Linbury Studio Theatre

Dates
Friday 4 June at 2pm
Friday 4 June at 7:30pm
(live-streamed)
Saturday 5 June at 2pm
Saturday 5 June at 7:30pm

About the show

“What else can you offer your child, Mary? A Christian home? Financial security? A legitimate name?”

The swinging sixties haven’t quite reached St Saviour’s mother and baby home. Run by the Church of England, the unwed mothers are hidden away from the neighbours and cloaked in shame.

They’re told this is what’s best. They have lives to go back to. Loving families. Boyfriends who are definitely going to marry them as soon as they can. And the children will be taken well care of. They’ve been promised that. But the young women aren’t so sure anymore...

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.

Her stage plays include Satin ‘n’ Steel (Nottingham Playhouse/Bolton Octagon), Ladies’ Day (Hull Truck), Bollywood Jane (Leicester Haymarket), The Wills’s Girls (Show of Strength/BBC Radio Four), Player’s Angels, Last Stop Louisa’s and The Boy on the Hill (New Perspectives). She has also written three youth theatre plays and a stage adaptation of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

Be My Baby was commissioned by Soho Theatre and has been produced extensively in the UK and abroad.

As a freelance director, Blythe has worked for a range of companies including the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, Soho Theatre, HighTide Festival, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Oxford School of Drama.

Twice she’s been nominated Best Director for Off-West End Awards. In 2016 she was the Hospital Club Foundation's Emerging Creative for Theatre and Performance.

Recent directing credits include: Wonder Winterland by Sami Ibrahim (Soho Theatre), Work Bitch by Jessica Siân (VAULT), Skin A Cat by Isley Lynn (UK tour), Finding Fassbender by Lydia Larson (Pleasance Edinburgh) and Conditionally by Danusia Samal (Soho Theatre).

Blythe studied directing at East 15 and the National Academy of Dramatic Arts (GITIS) in Moscow, Russia.

Strong language, themes of an adult nature and scenes of a distressing nature.

If you would like further information, please contact the box office.

Photos: Alex Brenner

Creative Team

Director
Blythe Stewart

Assistant Director
Belle Bao

Designer
Amanda Mascarenhas

Movement Coach
Adi Gortler

Voice Coach
Stevie Rickard

Cast

Mary
Zoë Armer

Matron
Matilda Bailes

Queenie
Florence Guy

Mrs. Adams
Lucy Havard

Norma
Ciana Howlin

Dolores
Lilly Walker

Production Team

Production Manager
Tiago Stricker Fontes

Stage Manager on the Book
Charli Stephens-King

Technical Stage Manager & Lighting Designer
Daisy Simmons

Technical Stage Manager & Sound Designer
Callum Watson

Production Sound Engineer
Vadim Wilkie

Costume Supervisor
Georgia Rose

Costume Assistant
Izzy Ribbeck

Photos: SRTaylor Photography