Little Women Festival Theatre Edinburgh 1st April 2025 Review
“Little Women” is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh (Tue 1 to Sat 5 April), and this classic “coming of age” story written by Louisa May Alcott and adapted for stage by Anne-Marie Casey is staying close to the spirit of the original novel.
This stage play is at its heart a very basic traditional work for theatre that does not depend upon impressing its audience with technical stage wizardry, but instead relies upon a good story, good dialogue and a cast with the ability to bring both of these elements to life and pull an audience into their world.
Somehow, despite her own personal reluctance to write this story (which in the end had four novels in the story arc), Louisa May Alcott has created individual characters who have delighted generations of readers and still find resonance today, long after the first publication of her books in 1868/69.
There is something about this family and these four very different sisters, the relationship dynamics between them all, that is so traditional but at the same time so contemporary and many of the themes that Alcott develops in her story still have relevance today as sadly some things for women have changed so slowly, if at all, in many areas of life. Having one of the great opening lines in literature, “'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug”, of course also helps a lot too and unknowingly, Alcott pretty much sums up our contemporary materialistic society perfectly.
The cast for this production with Belinda Lang (Aunt March), Honeysuckle Weeks (Abigail “Marmee” March), Jack Ashton (John Brooke/Professor Bhaer), Grace Molony (Jo March), Cillian Lenaghan (Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence), Jade Kennedy (Meg March), Catherine Chalk (Beth March) and Imogen Elliott (Amy March) all work well together here. This is a work where the dialogue itself is really the star of the show and everyone involved understands that as it leaves plenty of room for some fine character portrayals from everyone. By the very nature of this story though, the non conformist sister, Jo, gets much of the focus here and Grace Molony obviously gave this audience the Jo March that they wanted to see on stage. Belinda Lang as the wealthy Aunt March who does look down upon her now poorer relations does get some wonderful one-liners here too. Tight direction by Ruari Murchison always keeps this work an interesting one.
Little Women, with its many different scene changes, was always going to be a challenge to bring to the stage, particularly to the logistics and economics of a touring production, but here some interesting approaches to dealing with these challenges allow one stage set to perform multiple location functions.
Looking at the audience tonight it was obvious from the very large proportion of women/little women in the audience that this is very much a work for the girls who have grown up reading this book or watching one of the many film or television adaptations that have been made over the years. Which film you remember the most clearly does give your age away a little though.
It is all too easy to forget at times just how young the March sisters were in this story and the choices that they were expected to make at this “little women” age which would shape their life and their choices forever in life has so much to say about society of this time. How much this has not changed choice wise for many women across the world today is perhaps what makes this story so contemporary and still identifiable to many people watching this play or still reading the original books.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This stage play is at its heart a very basic traditional work for theatre that does not depend upon impressing its audience with technical stage wizardry, but instead relies upon a good story, good dialogue and a cast with the ability to bring both of these elements to life and pull an audience into their world.
Somehow, despite her own personal reluctance to write this story (which in the end had four novels in the story arc), Louisa May Alcott has created individual characters who have delighted generations of readers and still find resonance today, long after the first publication of her books in 1868/69.
There is something about this family and these four very different sisters, the relationship dynamics between them all, that is so traditional but at the same time so contemporary and many of the themes that Alcott develops in her story still have relevance today as sadly some things for women have changed so slowly, if at all, in many areas of life. Having one of the great opening lines in literature, “'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug”, of course also helps a lot too and unknowingly, Alcott pretty much sums up our contemporary materialistic society perfectly.
The cast for this production with Belinda Lang (Aunt March), Honeysuckle Weeks (Abigail “Marmee” March), Jack Ashton (John Brooke/Professor Bhaer), Grace Molony (Jo March), Cillian Lenaghan (Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence), Jade Kennedy (Meg March), Catherine Chalk (Beth March) and Imogen Elliott (Amy March) all work well together here. This is a work where the dialogue itself is really the star of the show and everyone involved understands that as it leaves plenty of room for some fine character portrayals from everyone. By the very nature of this story though, the non conformist sister, Jo, gets much of the focus here and Grace Molony obviously gave this audience the Jo March that they wanted to see on stage. Belinda Lang as the wealthy Aunt March who does look down upon her now poorer relations does get some wonderful one-liners here too. Tight direction by Ruari Murchison always keeps this work an interesting one.
Little Women, with its many different scene changes, was always going to be a challenge to bring to the stage, particularly to the logistics and economics of a touring production, but here some interesting approaches to dealing with these challenges allow one stage set to perform multiple location functions.
Looking at the audience tonight it was obvious from the very large proportion of women/little women in the audience that this is very much a work for the girls who have grown up reading this book or watching one of the many film or television adaptations that have been made over the years. Which film you remember the most clearly does give your age away a little though.
It is all too easy to forget at times just how young the March sisters were in this story and the choices that they were expected to make at this “little women” age which would shape their life and their choices forever in life has so much to say about society of this time. How much this has not changed choice wise for many women across the world today is perhaps what makes this story so contemporary and still identifiable to many people watching this play or still reading the original books.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com