Little Women at Home: Review

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women was the first ‘classic book’ gifted to me at a Christmas long ago. It was therefore, with slight trepidation that I entered Theatre One at HOME Manchester last evening. I was pleased when film-maker Greta Gerwig raised the profile of the novel in her take of the story in 2019. While I enjoyed the film, the March family unit that I knew as Meg, Jo, Amy, Beth and Marmee, were not the ones that my youthful imagination had envisaged, all seated around the fire singing Christmas Carols.

So, would this performance and adaptation by Anne-Marie Casey, directed by Brigid Lamour with a cast of eight, allow me to laugh and cry with Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in this coming-of-age tale packed with adventure, drama, love and loss?

The book, published in 1868, was inspired by Alcott’s experiences growing up with her three sisters, I wonder who she identified with? For me, I identified with Jo – or more exactly I wanted to be Jo – and in this production, Rachel McAllister’s portrayal of Jo was everything and more. Jo is intelligent, bright, hot headed also articulate – which is more that can be said for her spoilt sister Amy, whose use of words out of context deliver interesting as well as endearing moments, beautifully executed by Julia Brown. Who could not envisage that Amy would certainly be seen and heard in adulthood?

Ruari Murchison’s set of trees is pure magic, and in no way detracts from intimate feeling of the context of hearth, heart and home, then seamlessly becoming the back drop of a cold winter’s night in the forest.

Would Meg, the eldest daughter, a chip off the Marmee block, find the romance that she appears to alternate between, one moment longing for and then dismissing. Jessica Brydges takes us with Meg, quietly and steadfastly on her journey to womanhood.

Conversely Marmee, Kacey Ainsworth does share with Jo during one of Jo’s outbursts, that she too once had a temper and had learned to curb the rage. How can this be when Marmee with utmost grace is the steadfast level-headed cog in the March family wheel? Talking of March family, no one is allowed to forget about Susan Twist’s Aunt March, her heart of gold seems a little harder to find, but her appearance on stage, makes us all sit up a little straighter.

Beth March wears her heart on her sleeve and I for one appreciated Meg Chaplin taking Beth to the piano, a moment as other moments, when sensitive Beth, neither by precociousness nor bickering, leads her sisters to be better people. As the four daughters begin to step into their own respective new worlds, they are joined by their new neighbour, the rich, Theodore ‘Laurie’ Laurence (Daniel Francis-Swaby), bringing with him, a superb energy to the stage while his penniless tutor, Prof Bhaer (Tom Richardson), brings a serene but strong presence to the stage.

In Laurie, Jo sees a playmate, the boy she always wanted to be, her sisters see a brother or do they? What will the enigmatic Prof do to win one of the girl’s hearts or will he?
For now, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth, sit by the fire, as they struggle to survive in New England during the American Civil War, awaiting your arrival. You have until 23 December 2023 to visit. You will find them at HOME Manchester.