BE MY BABY

EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2008 REVIEW

 Be My Baby

• Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House 
• Aug 4-9, 11-16, 18-23: 12:25
• £8 (£6)

Nineteen-year-old May is a good girl really, but she's in trouble – unmarried and pregnant. To avoid the inevitable scandal and disgrace, her mother books her into St Saviour's where she can be turned around through Bible study, discipline and hard laundry work until the time comes to have her baby and give it up for adoption. All this takes place under the eye of a strict but humane Matron

This poignant and often funny story is held together by a terrific soundtrack of contemporary early angst-ridden teen bands: the Ronettes, Shirelles and the like.

At St Saviour's, Mary makes friends with Queenie, a cynical rough diamond who's seen it all before and Dolores, who is naïve and romantic. There's some superbly witty dialogue between these characters as they swap stories and read to each other from textbooks and a copy of The Lady.

Props are minimal but nothing fancy is needed. The cast manage to conjure up the oppressively rigid nature of St Saviour's in the early Sixties with little more than a handful of blankets, purely through their unforced natural acting skills and a powerful and moving script.