Little Women, based off of Louisa May Alcott’s childhood classic, follows the childhood of the four March sisters: Jo, Amy, Beth and Meg during the time of the American Civil War. Personally, I saw this as a coming-of-age novel, evoking intense but beautiful emotions, making it a book I can never forget. However, although the play does follow a very similar storyline, I did not necessarily feel the range of emotions I expected to.
The staging of the play was beautifully done, with a basic setting containing a chair, chaise lounge, desk and piano in the first act, and two large bookshelves were added in the background in the second. There were also some beautiful musical scenes, of both Christmas carols and slow dancing, which do add to the magic of the play.
Although the setting and the storyline was very well done, the acting did seem very rehearsed and robotic, especially in the first act. Jo, everyone’s favourite protagonist who defies the boundaries of femininity, did not emit this and instead fitted more into the “pick-me” mentality, who felt the need to constantly express she is not a girl. Although this is a very important concept in general, this does not necessarily fit into the wider storyline of the play.
The play also began with mentioning the death of the male protagonist, Laurie’s, grandfather and the fact that he left all his wealth to his grandson. This strays away from the novel, where Beth fosters a beautiful friendship with the old man and plays the piano in his house regularly. The absence of this meant there was very little character development for Beth, and all her scenes felt very episodic and rushed. Beth’s death, at the beginning of act 2 is meant to be a very emotional and unfortunate moment which really resonates with the audience, however I did not personally feel this as her scenes felt very pieced together and like an afterthought for the director.
The acting of the two male characters in the play does seem significantly better, with Jack Ashton playing both Laurie’s tutor John Brooke, and Jo’s eventual love interest Friedrich Bauer. Ashton really immerses himself within these two roles and portrayed the raw emotion that I expected within this play. Cillian Lenaghan also embodies the character of Laurie very well, especially when portraying the betrayal he feels against Jo in the latter half of the play. These characters bring the play together very well and I would definitely be interested in seeing these actors in other roles in the future.
Overall, Little Women is a good play to watch, and was lovely to reminisce over such a beloved novel, however some of the acting lets it down as it very much feels scripted and like the majority of actors are simply acting, rather than embodying such iconic and loved characters.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Little Women played at the Lyceum Theatre from May 6th until May 10th, & is touring the U.K. until November 1st
