Much like the hotly contested Die Hard, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is known to many as a Christmas story. As a result, stepping into Blackpool’s beautiful Grand Theatre from a balmy spring evening to see it brought to life on stage felt only slightly criminal. That being said, all thoughts of seasonal treachery were quickly forgotten as soon as the lights went down and the show began – a true-to-book authentic portrayal of one of the world’s most treasured pieces of literature.
Set in 1860s Massachusetts during the height of America’s Civil War, the coming-of-age narrative of Little Women follows the four March sisters: Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth. Despite being newly poor and racked with fear for their father’s safety, they are each on the precipice of the life that awaits them beyond girlhood. Between time spent in the imagined worlds they conjure together, they debate what life will look like for them in a society with limited opportunities for women. Their contrasting ambitions are exemplified by opposite sisters Amy and Jo – while Amy intends to become the perfect lady and in turn an attractive marriage prospect, protagonist Jo seeks a different life for herself, one defined by independence and literary pursuits.
Alike to recent and not-so-recent film adaptations, Anne-Marie Casey’s Little Women remains very much true to the original story, albeit a condensed version for the stage. Nevertheless, it captures the most important feelings of the narrative: tenderness, familial love (and sometimes war), resourcefulness and hope.
The set drew on the book’s theme of isolation and made the audience feel as if they were just another March sister, perched on a chaise or toasting their own hands at the fire.
One of the most notable aspects of the production was Ruari Murchison’s clever set design, combining the domestic warmth of the March’s sitting room with a series of barren tree trunks, the result of which was a hybrid of outdoors and in. This drew on the book’s theme of isolation and made the audience feel as if they were just another March sister, perched on a chaise or toasting their own hands at the fire.
The production’s acting was top notch, delivered by a star-studded cast – many of whom the audience will have recognised from TV and beyond. Jo, excellently portrayed by Grace Molony, felt a little spikier on stage than on Alcott’s pages, but she was all the better for it. Molony did a brilliant job of bringing Jo’s lively and fierce spirit to life through her dynamic and energetic presence. Despite playing the most hard-to-like sister, Imogen Elliot gave a particularly impressive performance as Amy March, and her New England accent was the best of the bunch (equaled also by Cillian Lenaghan as the charming and ever childlike Laurie).
While romance and marriage remains central to the plot, Casey’s adaptation gives more of a focus to Jo’s struggle for independence – in life and in thought – and it is this that stays with the audience as they depart the theatre. The script made this possible, full of witty remarks and well-developed dialogue which, although hard-hitting and thought-provoking, never felt contrived or on-the-nose. Most scenes were light-hearted and even the dark moments kept fluffy with hints of comic relief (most notably from Belinda Lang’s hilarious portrayal of the stuffy Aunt March), but Beth’s tragic end was given the attention and sensitivity it deserved. After confiding in Jo that the end was near, she rose up from where she lay and walked slowly into a large beaming light – a moment moving enough to hold any audience captive.
Between harmonised Christmas carols, snow-dappled proposals and heinous manuscript burnings, this risk-free adaptation of an iconic story brings the idealism, pain and beauty of girlhood into question – almost as well as the book-bound version. It’s well worth a watch, even at the height of spring, so make sure to catch the show before it finishes on 29th March.
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