STAGECOACH Youth Theatre York is to resurrect "the little gem of a play" that the company originally staged in 2000 in the first production outside London.

"Since that show in the basement of the De Grey Rooms, Be My Baby has played at theatres and arts centres across the country and been produced in locations as far apart as the Edinburgh Festival and New York," says Stagecoach director John Cooper.

"Now we're doing the play again with a new generation of 16-year-old actresses at a different venue, our recently completed studio theatre at Trinity Hall in Monkgate."

Written by Nottingham journalist Amanda Whittington, Be My Baby is set in a mother-and-baby home in 1964 in the north of England and follows the fortunes of Mary Adams, aged 19, and seven months pregnant. Forcibly sent there by a mother intent on keeping up appearances, Mary - along with other girls in the home - has to cope with the shame and the dawning realisation that she will have to give up the baby, however reluctantly.

Despite this scenario and an overbearing matron, the girls' youthful effervescence breaks through as they sing along to the girl-group songs of the period.

As in 2000, Cooper's production is double cast. "This will allow them to alternate between playing the teenage inmates of the home and the glamorous members of the girl band, whose songs comment on the action," says the director.

His casting offers an intriguing twist on the first production. "The only original cast members, Helen Scoullar and Willy Edwards, are reversing their roles from 2000. This time Helen will play the distraught mother, Mrs Adams, and Willy will be the dictatorial matron," Cooper says.

Be My Baby runs at Stagecoach Studio Theatre from Wednesday to Saturday at 8pm. Tickets: £5, concessions £4; ring 01904 674675.

Updated: 15:23 Thursday, January 27, 2005