Little Women

Little Women performed as a one act play by The Drama Dept was a masterpiece in condensing so much action into so little time.

The set consisted of a fireplace on a truck and a couple of plain black boxes which could be imagined into a sofa, a piano, a bed etc. Various relevant props (by Faith Barton-Simms) were brought on and taken off by the characters using them. There were no microphones – it was all down to individual projection, diction and enunciation. Costumes by Janet Newcombe and Annabelle Reyes were very fitting to the era and worked very well with the hair and makeup.

Ava Barton-Simms showed her maternal side in her characterisation of Marmee – difficult in itself as all the cast members are of a similar real age. She had a quiet maturity in both her manner and her deliverance. Jake McCormick as Father matched her mature delivery with a calm confidence. Scarlett Walsh as Aunt March was well cast and gave a solid characterisation which included a limp and a cane - but please be careful as there is a fine line between acting drama and tipping over into a pantomime-esque performance especially when playing such a larger than life character. Ava Staines-Heath started her dialogue very rushed but soon settled into a nice pace, she showed Jo`s lust for learning and her fierce loyalty well, Heather Drew as Amy was every inch the petulant princess on the surface but she showed us lovely  glimpses into Amy`s real depth of character. Beth Moran as Meg showed her characters flirty, playful side well, she had some good pace and enunciation. She had some nice dialogue with Brooke played by Daniel Jr Mbaru.  Jessica Dunning  as Beth played Beth`s dying  scene very well and understated, she had a lovely grasp of the character and showed her gentleness well to the audience. Jack Lightfoot as Laurie gave us a perfect characterisation of a boy turning into a man, he had some great dialogue with Jo (Ava Staines-Heath) and kept great pace when tempers were raised. Izzy McConnell as Mr Lawrence gave us a solid  characterisation of the formidable gentleman who showed his true gentle nature with the gift of the piano to the ailing Beth, again it was a lovely understated performance. Hanhah Donaghue played Hannah, a nice solid characterisation with some good pace and diction.

Thank you for inviting me, myself and my guest enjoyed your performance of Little Women. See you all soon.

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