Greenwich Theatre: Be My Baby
Staging
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The audience was seated in a "square u" shape around the square stage,
which faced the audience at a right angle. There were two exits, one
at right back and one at left back stage with room to walk between
them. There was a curtain in the style of a hospital ward, which was
pulled around one of the exits; the exact one depended on the scene,
which worked well when it was pulled across the whole stage when Mary
was giving birth.
The stage was set out with all the scenery incorporated into one set,
this included the laundry, Matron's office and Mary and Queenie's
Bedroom. When extra scenery was needed, for example, laundry baskets,
they had wheels fixed to the bottom so they could be wheeled in and
out with ease as needed. The lighting was very effective in that it
made the set look like a hospital ward. It also showed the different
times of day, as there were different colours behind the window,
orange for daybreak, and to set the time of year and temperature.
Theatre
The theatre was quite small making the audience feel more intimate
with the play. Also, the size of the theatre meant that all of the
audiences' attention was focused on the actors. There was a tension
between the girls when Mary first enters the home. They build the
audience up to a climax when Mary Gives birth, using the curtain as a
screen as if in a hospital. The play highlighted the problems faced by
pregnant girls in the 60's.
The theatre, itself was different to those I am used to, it felt more
welcoming to walk down a warmly lit narrow staircase. Towards an
intimate seating area where the staff showed the audience to their
seats in a similar way to that used in a cinema.
Characters
Mary
Mary was portrayed as a bright girl with more confidence than I
imagined her to have when I read the script. She walked with her chin
up and her back straight. She seemed to be less friendly with Queenie
than I thought she should. She also seemed to be a bit too snobbish
and "above" everyone else. She spoke with a predominantly English
accent, which abruptly changed to northern when she first entered the
home, however, after the interval, it changed back again. Mary seemed
very set in her ways and to the point in the way that she was
portrayed. If Mary were an animal, she would be a peacock as they ar...
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the play, I would make her less confident and more eager to fit in.
Also, if Mary was seven months pregnant, her father would've noticed
so she would dress in baggy clothes or clothes that were too big for
her, however, she entered the home wearing a fairly tight skirt and
jacket set.
The play highlights the problems and flaws in 1960's society, what
pregnant girls had to go through and their feelings. They used the
stereotypical northern teenager and divided it into four, adding
feelings and history. Setting the play in northern England, using
northern accents makes the girls sound "backwards" and poor.
Audience Reactions
The audience laughed mainly at Dolores. Norma made the audience
nervous and made them pity her. Mary made the audience feel as if they
could relate to her. Queenie was the leader of the girls, and so led
the audience into the home and into the other girls' lives. Matron
made the audience look up to her, as she was responsible for running
the home. Mrs. Adams made the audience feel sorry for her to have to
give up her own daughter, but at the same time hated for being so
obsessed by her status and what others would think of her.
During her teenage years, Marian Anderson seemed to be an introverted individual who put her studies and her family before anyone else. She was
wild. Sometimes she fought with the older children, the ones who tried to grab the old
...ause of her set out to do something she was passionate about. She gave her research a chance. Although it took more to authenticate her work, she did that in
but sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs,” (122). Her idealized
saying "she has a kind heart, and she was to prove loyal to the very
...n high school and she was striving for big goals, working hard to achieve them, and overcoming countless obstacles. Even when her father stole that piggy bank money she did not give up. Her purpose in life helped transfer her into adulthood. Without this determination and sacrifice, seceding into a successful adult would have been much more challenging.
In her commencement speech she mentions four factors of knowledge that she believes are mandatory for women to remedy. Her idea of a true or good woman is a strong woman who knows what she wants from life, is out to succeed, and will survive. An untrue or bad woman is a lady that is weak, that has a tendency to get run over, and has no real ambition for what she wants to do with her life.
her position and truly valued the fact that she was helping people and at the same time, felt that
her just the way she was. He encouraged her to be what she wanted to be,
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.
style of her own, and she knew what style was. She used to read to
willingly obliged to her father 's desires. By not thinking for herself and only doing as her
is very loyal to her family if she will take a bullet for one of her
...ld have been very hard to tell her what to do. When someone is that comfortable with whom they are you cannot help but admire them. They are who they are and no one will ever be able to change that. They are above the trivial ways of trying to fit in to get people to like them. She had all she wanted, her family and the rest didn’t matter. No one would ever be able to shape her into what they want. She wasn’t out spoken but she didn’t let people use her. Isn’t that what makes heroism? She was someone who would never do something just because society told her. Isn’t that which make progress possible too? There are few ways progress can only be made by those who are willing to be different and not conform to society. Maybe that is what everyone liked about her, how she couldn’t be manipulated. She was always aware what was going on but it never caused her to change.