abop
'You don't have to be young, female or unmarried to find it immensely touching'
Poignant, powerful and still pertinent...Whittington's play about yesterday sings out today"
Observer
“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
WOMEN'S WORKS
Ww is a project based company and therefore fees are paid to participate. These are settled in advance, once casting decisions have been made. There is no fee payable to audition.
Be My Baby: TBC
​
Rehearsal Dates TBC
​
Project Dates TBC
The Play
A poignant drama about attitudes to teenage pregnancy in 60s Britain.
England, 1964. Mary is nineteen, 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.
​
The sixties might have been swinging for some but to be a young woman with child but no husband carried a huge stigma in those times.
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 towards outraged, powerless adulthood.
WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR
Vibrant multi talented performers (between 14 and 21 years) who wish to focus on their performance skills alongside a professional team of Theatre Makers. Female artists who relish working within a fast paced schedule to a high standard of work. Be My Baby deals with adult themes and Pregnancy, so 'auditionees' under 18 years must be fully supported by their Parents or Guardians. Written confirmation will be requested.
CASTING
MARY ADAMS
Playing age, 19 years. Seven months pregnant. Female Lead. Spoken/Singing.
Works at the Trustees Savings Bank. From a middle-class family. Fairly intelligent but immature. Unmarried.
​
QUEENIE
Playing age 20 years. Four months pregnant. Supporting Role. Spoken/Singing
Streetwise, gobby and spirited! A realist, who sees things for what they are. Working class background,
​
NORMA
Playing age 20 years. Eight months pregnant. Female. Supporting. Spoken/Signing. Develops a form of postnatal psychosis after the birth of her baby.
​
DOLORES
Playing age 17 years. Three months pregnant. Female. Supporting. Spoken/Singing. Intellectually challenged girl who thinks the best of everyone.
​
MATRON
Female. Supporting. SpokenHead of St Saviours. Strict, seems insensitive and overbearing. Formidable.
​
MRS ADAMS
Female. Supporting. Spoken.'Mary's Mother. 'Buttoned up' and stern.
​
LAUNDRY GIRLS (Chorus)
Playing ages 17-20 years. At various stages of pregnancy.
​
​
AUDITIONS
​
1. Please complete the Audition Form HERE. Feel free to send additional supporting information to our Directors at officebop@gmail.com if you wish.
2. We would encourage those intending to audition to present your pieces from memory. However we will accept books if your audition is planned at short notice. Please scroll down for details.
3. Once the Audition Team have received your details you will be contacted regarding the date and time for your audition.
SECTION ONE
​
If you are auditioning for one of the following roles you will be expected to present a short Monologue. from the play. Please choose Option a or b. In addition you will also be expected to to perform a song.
MARY, QUEENIE, DOLORES, NORMA
​
​
SCRIPT
​
a)
Hello, Mrs Wilson...This is Mary Adams, you wrote to me regarding an interview...well I'm just ringing to say that I'd very much like to attend...two o'clock's fine, yes...I look forward to meeting you too, except...the thing is Mrs Wilson, I'm...I'm in hospital at the moment...nothing serious, no...I'm having a baby...a baby, yes...no, I'm not a widow...that's correct, Mrs Wilson. Unmarried...well, because of 'child considered'...but I am suitable...are you sure you wouldn't like me to...I see...I'm sorry...thank you, Mrs Wilson...goodbye.
​
​
b)
And so I says to Alfie, 'You want to see me bottom drawer?' He says, 'Can I?' So I says, 'Come up.' He says, 'Your Mam's out,' and I say, 'Yeah but it don't mean your luck's in.' So he follows me up and I shows him what I'd got.
Set of knives and forks off the market, yellow vase from when me Auntie died and a lovely blue bedspread what me Mam made. 'We'll be cosy under there,' says Alf. 'Cheeky bogger,' says I. When me Mam got back, I told her what he says and she says, 'There you go. He wants to name to day.' I says, 'I don't want a big 'un, Mam, it won't cost you nowt.' 'That's just as well,' she says. I says, 'How's about what our Brenda got wed in, it's been worn just the once?' But it turns out she dyed it red for her twenty-first. 'Well,' me Mam says. 'Looks like I'll be getting out me needle and thread.'
​
SONG
​
Please choose an upbeat song of your choice, no more than three minutes. You may use a backing track or sing unaccompanied.
​
If you have chosen to audition for a role from both Section 1 and Section 2 please choose Monologue a OR b AND Monologue c. Plus your song.
SECTION TWO
If you are auditioning ONLY for one of the following roles please perform monologue C only. You do not need to present a song as part of your audition.
MRS ADAMS, MATRON
​
c)
​
1931, we were married. Set up home in a rented room and just assumed it'd happen. We were both from big families but we'd set our hearts on two. A boy for my husband, a girl for me. A couple of years passed but we weren't unduly worried. With both of us working, we could save for a house. After seven years married, I went to the Doctor. Keep trying, he said. Then the war came along. My husband went to Burma, he won't speak of it still. But he came home on leave, for a night before he left and I really don't know why I'm telling you this.
I mistook the first signs for missing him. But nine months later came a miracle, Mary Elizabeth, named after our Mothers. I didn't know such happiness was possible. We've not had it easy, what with one thing and another. We've not had it easy but for Mary.
SECTION THREE
​
LAUNDRY GIRLS (Chorus) Flexible numbers
​
If you are auditioning for one of the roles above please be prepared to present Monologue b. You do not need to perform this from memory.
You will also be required to perform an upbeat song of your choice, no longer than three minutes and attend a movement workshop.
​
b)
And so I says to Alfie, 'You want to see me bottom drawer?' He says, 'Can I?' So I says, 'Come up.' He says, 'Your Mam's out,' and I say, 'Yeah but it don't mean your luck's in.' So he follows me up and I shows him what I'd got.
Set of knives and forks off the market, yellow vase from when me Auntie died and a lovely blue bedspread what me Mam made. 'We'll be cosy under there,' says Alf. 'Cheeky bogger,' says I. When me Mam got back, I told her what he says and she says, 'There you go. He wants to name to day.' I says, 'I don't want a big 'un, Mam, it won't cost you nowt.' 'That's just as well,' she says. I says, 'How's about what our Brenda got wed in, it's been worn just the once?' But it turns out she dyed it red for her twenty-first. 'Well,' me Mam says. 'Looks like I'll be getting out me needle and thread.'
“The thing is, I can feel it moving. I can feel it moving and I’m scared, you see? I’m scared I’m going to love it.”