Little Women review

Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre is noted for creating adaptations of classics that make them genuinely accessible for a family audience.

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is a story that has been retold and reinvented many times. Anne Odeke’s choice to reset the American Civil War period epic against the backdrop of First World War Chester is a gamble that really pays off. What can often become a cloying piece of melodrama is turned out here with a freshness and energy that really captivates its audience.

The production sets out its stall early, with a scene in which the March sisters become embroiled in a suffragette demonstration. In this one deftly inserted scene we are told all we need to know about the place and time. The sprawling narrative of the source novel is, by necessity, heavily abridged to create a workable piece for the stage while retaining all the most memorable material. There are so many parallels between the two different wartime settings that the story translates beautifully.

Paislie Reid leads a strong cast as Jo, the would-be writer and diarist who is effectively the show’s narrator. Reid’s mixture of teenage charm and energetic swagger is perfectly judged. Director Natasha Rickman has succeeded in getting every one of her actors to bring real balance to their characters. 

Naturally the centre of the work is its quartet of sisters, and balance is key here also. All four performances are richly rounded. Haylie Jones is Meg, and her impetuous nature is tempered with a level-headed solidity. Joelle Brabban’s Amy is the one who undergoes the biggest transformation in personality as she grows up across the story’s time span. Molly Madigan is totally captivating as the quiet, thoughtful Beth, who has some of the play’s most moving scenes.

Opposite the sisters are a trio of young men vying for their affections, and once again there is great casting. Eddy Payne makes a fine Mr Bhaer and Oliver Nazareth Aston delivers an understated, engaging John Brooke. Samuel Awoyo is a revelation as Laurie; a character that can often come across as obnoxious becomes warm and entirely likeable in his hands.

Providing the forces that move these young people are the gentle presence of Alice Keedwell’s Mrs March (no Marmee here) and Nicola Blackman’s fierce Aunt March, while Robert Maskell appears both as the aloof, avuncular Mr Laurence and as Father, whose return from the war in his chaplain’s garb heralds the play’s almost-Shakespearean matrimonial conclusion.

This retelling of a much-loved story is so heartfelt and joyous that even a summer downpour cannot dampen its spirits.