As a smiling Jo March (Allison Edwards-Crewe) mischievously unhinges the top of an unadorned trunk, releasing traditional costumes along with her three sisters, the audience becomes witness to a swift time transition back to the era of novelist Louisa May Alcott.
That magical opening sequence is a clever theatrical addition that enhances Alcott’s classic novel Little Women, published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869 and now skillfully adapted for the stage by Canadian playwright Jordi Mand and directed with a steady hand by Esther Jun.
A coming-of-age tale of four teenage sisters growing up in 1860s Connecticut – a time scarred by the American Civil War – the adaptation playing at the Avon Theatre has lost none of the original works Little Women and Good Wives observations on the intrinsic power of bonding in the face of both personal and national trials.
Remarkably a story never out of print for the past 154 years and largely seen as just family fare, it’s now reaching out onstage to women of all ages living in in a regressive socio-economic climate that appears to be reverting back to conservatism where female concerns, aspirations and quests for fulfillment are still being cast aside.
Showcased by Edwards-Crewe’s energetic, bold and audience-pleasing capture of the rebellious and unorthodox Jo – a writer in-the-works and lover of Dickens and Shakespeare and Scott – the cast boasts a trio of impressive and poignant performances by the leads.
Brefny Caribou shines as the shy, home-loving piano-paying Beth; Verónica Hortigüela is the essence of Meg, the oldest and most typical female of the sisters, while Lindsay Wu, whose Amy, the youngest, is a delightfully explosive mix of artistic desire and fierce temper, the latter most notably seen when she tears up Jo’s manuscript in a fitful rage because he is not invited to a party the others attend.
As they grow and mature, facing up to the harsh reality that changes and, in some cases, makes radical adjustments to their characters as a prerequisite to survival, one constant remains over the years – the guidance of their mother or “Marmee”, played with requisite calm and grace by Irene Poole.
Meg marries John Brooke (Stephen Jackman-Torkoff), the tutor of the March family’s well-to-do neighbour Theodore “Laurie” Laurence (Richard Lam). The family quickly expands with the birth of twins Daisy and Demi. Amy travels to Europe with the ever-cantankerous Aunt March (brought to life by the magnificent Marion Adler).
Meanwhile Jo, still not enthusiastic about embracing romance, travels to New York for work as a governess, experiences a few successes as a professional writer while dreaming of that future novel and connects intellectually with German expatriate Professor Bhaer (a nicely measured approach by Rylan Wilkie).
Wilkie also appears briefly as the girls’ father who returns from the war a changed man both physically and mentally. The conflict was the chief reason the family experienced a life-altering financial decline. Ironically it was Jo who initially had expressed her interest in serving.
The incident that rocked the family but did not shatter the familial bonds, is the untimely death of Beth from a recurrence of Scarlet Fever just as she entered adulthood. Outside of family, a positive link for Beth was to Laurie’s grandfather James Laurence (John Koensgen) who generously gave her the family piano. Koensgen’s strong performance is key because he represents another supportive male protagonist in a time where lives were dominated at all levels by men.
Enhancing the efforts of Mand, Jun and the stellar cast are innovative visual components marrying the distinct union of the traditional and contemporary including Teresa Przybylski’s set design, A.W. Nadine Grant’s glorious costuming, Kaileigh Krysztofiak’s effective lighting blueprint, sound from Emily C. Porter and musical scoring that affords some actors dressed in period apparel time to engage in a little off-the-wall hip-hop dancing.
A careful balance of the melancholy with flashes of joyful exuberance, Little Women could well be the sleeper hit of the Stratford Festival’s 2022 season. It plays until October 29.
