Little Women

Little Women, presented by Stirling Theatre Players, is an adaptation by the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. Directed by Carryn McLean, this production runs until the 18th of December. I didn’t know what to expect from this production. Firstly, I’m a guy, and the thought of watching a play about a group of sisters in the 19th century doesn’t exactly rank high on my ‘must do’ list. But despite this, I was pleasantly surprised by this play. The most exciting aspect of this production, in my opinion, is the cast. The mostly young cast create a very strong and dynamic ensemble performance that you would expect from a troupe older and more experienced. Each character is represented distinctly, which is credit not only to Carryn’s seamless direction, but the enthusiasm of the performers. Highlights for me were Zoe Hollyoak as the delightfully naïve Amy and Cassandra Vagliviello whose subtle and controlled performance as Meg was the best thing I have seen her do to date. Also, it was a pleasure to watch was Ursula Johnson in the role of the insufferable Aunt March. The performances made up in spades for the few (mostly technical) elements of this production that were subpar. The audio being one of them. Now, I realise this is a systems issue, but I found the bug mics being turned off in order to make the other sound cues very jarring. Sound is something that often gets overlooked in community theatre, much to the detriment to the atmosphere the team work so hard to create. Also, the scene changes were quite long and broke the continuity of the piece by not having any music to accompany them. There were also a few places in the play were we were waiting for actors to enter, creating dead spaces that went for seconds and felt like minutes. But this criticism definitely does not encapsulate my feelings about the production. The set, when revealed for the first time by the curtains was impressive. It used to space excellently, with the drawing room flowing into a hall with a staircase. The impeccable lighting design added to this feature, by giving the impression of different times of the day with simple and effective lighting cues (like a light shining into the window). It just goes to show that a well planned design scheme will make up for a lack of resources that big production companies have at their disposal. Overall, I thought this production was of a good standard. Although it started off a bit uncertain of itself, it came home stalwartly. While I thought the adaptation of the novel was a bit lacklustre (no one’s fault bar the playwright), there were plenty of things that maintained my interest. Not sure about the carols at the end though, but the oldies (which made up the vast majority of the audience) seemed to enjoy it. Tickets are cheap, so why not check it out? If anything, just see a new batch of local new talent.