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The Baby
Rome, 78BC. The ruler of Rome, Sulla, has just died. He has been much loved and much hated. Loved, because he has cut inflation and interest rates and restored public order. Hated, because he has achieved this by repressing the working-classes and lowering expenditure on the poor. When he dies, the professional mourners who are asked to wail at his state funeral don't like the idea of weeping and tearing their hair for someone who caused them so much grief while he was alive, and they threaten to strike. This brings about massive retaliation from Pompey (Sulla's political heir) - which falls mostly on the head of the heroine, Macu, the woman who has led the wailers' protest. To teach the wailers a lesson, Pompey orders his followers to start a fire in the part of town where they live - a fire in which Macu's daughter dies.
Written in a contemporary language representing Rome as somewhere which resembles a modern, polyglot, violent city with powerful competing interests and a large under-class, the play is a portrait of a divided nation. It's also about Macu and her anger. What's she supposed to do with it? When can she grieve?
First produced at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 13th October 1990. It was directed by Michael Boyd and designed by Rae Smith. The cast was Rosaleen Pelan (Macu), Billy McColl (Wocky), Ross Dunsmore (Pompey / Rufus / Butter), John Stahl (Crassus / Sorcha / Size), Jennifer Black, (Emilia / Jalata / Nuddy), Hilary McLean (Marcella / Ayeesha / Phyllida), Anne Lacey (Flood / Ranee / Zuzibarra), Jenny McCrindle (Rana / Laura / Ushla / Sharma), Peter Grimes (Gobber / Grin / Joppa)
Quotes
"An epic play humanised by Hannan’s concerns for the lives of ordinary people caught up in events seemingly beyond their control… This political tale parallels Elizabeth Gordon Quinn but indicates that the playwright’s boundaries are widening and his concerns becoming more acute."
The Times
“By going so far from the norm thematically, Hannan has allowed himself the room to create a period epic complete with all the trappingsyou would expect from the great Elizabethan and Jacobean classicists who wowed their audiences with heightened language, earth-shattering emotion, weighty moral dilemmas, lowbrow comedy and disturbing, bloody tragedy.”