Little Women

Little Women, written by Louisa M. Alcott, is the story of the four March sisters and their journey into adulthood. The two volumes were first published in 1868 and 1869. They were an immediate success and have remained popular ever since.

For Rosita Goldstone, it has clearly been a labour of love to adapt this story for the stage and to direct it for the Dorking Dramatic and Operatic Society.

Initially, the set showed a fairly plain house interior. The stage crew and cast smoothly adapted the layout with a variety of furniture and props that were appropriate to the period. But then they opened it out…first one half and then the other, to create new rooms and gardens in different locations. This was excellent use of the stage.

The womenfolk were well dressed in a variety of costumes that seemed appropriate for the period. The men were not so fortunate. With the exception of Mr Lawrence, who always looked immaculate, they were usually underdressed. John Brooke didn’t get his winter coat…and had to do without a jacket too.

Lighting was good throughout, although the four LED fittings could be a bit uncomfortable for the audience. Sound effects were attractive; and the original music, composed by Ben Golding, was lovely and used so gently.

This production covered a lot of ground in less than two hours running time. The impression is that the writer wanted to be faithful to the source material and to utilise the original dialogue. But the pace of the first act was extremely rapid and the ten short scenes flickered past with little opportunity to grasp the storyline, get to know the people and to empathise with them.

The second act seemed more measured, there seemed to be more depth and the characters began to come alive.

Cata Sanchez-Marti was well cast as Jo, the impatient intellectual sister and narrator, whilst Rosalind Brown played the oldest sister, Meg, with great warmth. Connor Mason as Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence was comic and animated in his frustrations that his feelings for Jo were not returned. His affections were then transferred to Amy (Alex Hilder) whose progress from a flighty child to a sophisticated young woman was very nicely played. However, ALL of the members of the cast displayed a high standard of acting.

This is the first time that this adaptation has been presented; and it was very well received by the Dorking audience. For future productions, it might be worth reviewing the script to see how some scenes could be fleshed out and developed further.

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