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ARTS & CULTURE
ARTS & CULTURE ARTS & CULTURE
The cast of Little Women at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (L-R): Angelique Archer, Emilie O’Hara, Elizabeth Chinn Molloy, Torie Wiggins and Maggie Lou Rader.
PHOTO: MIKKI SCHAFFNER PHOTOGRAPHY
[CRITIC’S PICK]
[CRITIC’S PICK] Little Women Grows UpLittle Women Grows Up Cincinnati Shakespeare Company re-interprets ‘Little Women’ for a modern audience. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company re-interprets ‘Little Women’ for a modern audience. REVIEW BY RICK PENDER
REVIEW BY RICK PENDER
Playwright Kate Hamill has carved out a special niche in today’s theater world, adapting classic novels into playscripts. is season she’s among the most-produced playwrights in the country, including her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women that’s currently onstage at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (she also created the script for Cincy Shakes’ production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which was interrupted before the worldwide pandemic before it returned last season for a well-received run).
You might imagine that a novel about girls growing up in the 1860s would be sweet and overly sentimental, but Hamill’s intention is in a di erent direction. In a remark published in the production’s Cincinnati program, she says, “I speci cally wanted my Little Women to re ect American women today. All young girls and women deserve to see themselves onstage in a universal story, particularly with the limitless imaginative bounds of theater.” e irony of Alcott’s title — and in this play — is that there’s really nothing “little” about the four March sisters. We meet them as spirited girls in extravagant play-acting, but life’s circumstances soon push them into adulthood quickly. e Civil War is raging elsewhere, and their father – a military chaplain – is wounded. When their mother Marmie leaves to care for her husband, her daughters must grow up quickly. e family’s nancial circumstances are perilously unstable, and Jo, the central character, hopes her writing can stabilize them. Reality bears down on all of them with occasional disagreement and con ict, even though their mischievous creativity never completely evaporates. But they take on new responsibilities and concerns as time passes.
Cincy Shakes’ production design by Shannon Moore literally reminds us that time is passing, as nearly two dozen clocks decorate the set’s rear wall — wall clocks with pendulums, mantel clocks on ledges and ornate timepieces atop pieces of furniture. As the twohour production’s scenes progress through time, the intervals are brie y punctuated by darkness with one clock or another spotlighted, usually accompanied by loud ticking.
If you’ve read Little Women or have seen any of its cinematic incarnations, you will recall Josephine (“Jo,” with all its tomboyish connotations) is an aspiring writer who creates fantastic tales to be enacted by her sisters. Elizabeth Chinn Molloy portrays Jo with spunk and verve, constantly nding fame as a writer just beyond her grasp – success that she desperately hopes will help her family’s di cult straits. Willful and single-minded, Jo has a stubborn temper. She fears there is “no place for me in the world,” but we know she cares and struggles to do her best for her
Playwright Kate Hamill has carved out a special niche in today’s theater world, adapt- family. Jo’s slightly older sister Meg is beauti-ing classic novels into playscripts. is ful and pragmatic, more traditional in season she’s among the most-produced her aspirations. Younger sister Beth is playwrights in the country, including shy and musical, but also the family her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s peacemaker. e baby of the family, Little Women that’s currently onstage at Amy, is interested in art but rather Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (she spoiled, vain and self-centered.also created the script for Cincy Shakes’ eir mother, caring Marmie, is production of Jane Austen’s Pride and played with warmth and understand-Prejudice, which was interrupted before ing by Torie Wiggins, a veteran local the worldwide pandemic before it actor. She also steps into the role of the returned last season for a well-received imperious Aunt March, a judgmental run). and intolerant older relative, for one
You might imagine that a novel about scene. Meg (Maggie Lou Rader) is sweet girls growing up in the 1860s would and pragmatic but also is overwhelmed be sweet and overly sentimental, but by motherhood once she marries John Hamill’s intention is in a di erent direc- Brooke. Beth (Angelique Archer) is the tion. In a remark published in the pro- thoughtful moral center of the four, and duction’s Cincinnati program, she says, in Hamill’s retelling she is the catalyst “I speci cally wanted my Little Women for Jo to write stories that are more to re ect American women today. All real and that more accurately re ect young girls and women deserve to see the existence that the March family is themselves onstage in a universal story, living. Amy (Emilie O’Hara) is a atter, more comic character, exasperated by
particularly with the limitless imaginative bounds of theater.” e irony of Alcott’s title — and in this play — is that there’s really nothing “little” about the four March sisters. We meet them as spirited girls in extravagant play-acting, but life’s circumstances soon push them into adulthood quickly. e Civil War is raging elsewhere, and their father – a military chaplain – is wounded. When their mother Marmie leaves to care for her husband, her daughters must grow up quickly. e family’s nancial circumstances are perilously unstable, and Jo, the central character, hopes her writing can stabilize them. Reality bears down on all of them with occasional disagreement and con ict, even though their mischievous creativity never completely evaporates. But they take on new responsibilities and concerns as time passes.
Cincy Shakes’ production design by Shannon Moore literally reminds us that time is passing, as nearly two dozen clocks decorate the set’s rear wall — wall clocks with pendulums, mantel clocks on ledges and ornate timepieces atop pieces of furniture. As the twohour production’s scenes progress through time, the intervals are brie y punctuated by darkness with one clock or another spotlighted, usually accompanied by loud ticking.
If you’ve read Little Women or have seen any of its cinematic incarnations, you will recall Josephine (“Jo,” with all its tomboyish connotations) is an aspiring writer who creates fantastic tales to be enacted by her sisters. Elizabeth Chinn Molloy portrays Jo with spunk and verve, constantly nding fame as a writer just beyond her grasp – success that she desperately hopes will help her family’s di cult straits. Willful and single-minded, Jo has a stubborn temper. She fears there is “no place for me in the world,” but we know she cares and struggles to do her best for her family.
Jo’s slightly older sister Meg is beautiful and pragmatic, more traditional in her aspirations. Younger sister Beth is shy and musical, but also the family peacemaker. e baby of the family, Amy, is interested in art but rather spoiled, vain and self-centered. eir mother, caring Marmie, is played with warmth and understanding by Torie Wiggins, a veteran local actor. She also steps into the role of the imperious Aunt March, a judgmental and intolerant older relative, for one scene. Meg (Maggie Lou Rader) is sweet and pragmatic but also is overwhelmed by motherhood once she marries John Brooke. Beth (Angelique Archer) is the thoughtful moral center of the four, and in Hamill’s retelling she is the catalyst for Jo to write stories that are more real and that more accurately re ect the existence that the March family is living. Amy (Emilie O’Hara) is a atter, more comic character, exasperated by
Cincy Shakes’ version of Little Women re ects the struggles and triumphs experienced by modern women.
PHOTO: MIKKI SCHAFFNER PHOTOGRAPHY
being treated as a child, even as her behavior is little more than childish. She progresses from that position to more of a poised young woman as the story unfolds but remains rather self-centered.
Laurie (Patrick Earl Phillips) is the “boy next door” who obviously is enamored with Jo but whose yearning is constantly de ected. ey are best friends, but he never succeeds in elevating their connection to romance, much to his dismay. Jo demands so much of herself in her pursuit of writing success that she is unable to return Laurie’s a ection. Phillips does a ne job of walking this emotional tightrope, never pushing too hard but always subtly revealing a deeper feeling than Jo won’t acknowledge but that the audience feels deeply.
As John Brooke, Meg’s suitor and eventual husband, Justin McCombs is awkward and endearing – simply a good man trying to do the right things by his wife, even when she feels unable to bear the expectations of raising their children. McCombs’s comic air is used momentarily when he dons a red-crested mask with a beak to play stern Aunt March’s parrot, underscoring her harsh remarks by barking the nal few words each time she speaks. is amusing vignette somewhat softens Jo’s disappointment when she’s displaced by Amy to accompany their aunt on a European excursion.
I suspect that Hamill’s take on Alcott’s story and these characters will trouble some purists. In the program interview, Hamill says, “I believe in radical adaptation — in bringing new lenses to old stories and approaching adaptation very much as a new play speaking to modern audiences, as a collaboration between myself and the original author.”
“I feel that adaptations that bring nothing new to the table are doing a disservice to both the original and the play, which must stand by itself as a work of theater,” she continues. e show opens and closes with a conversation between Beth and Jo. At the outset, the younger sister implores her imaginative sibling, “Tell me a story,” something that feels more real and close to the lives of these young women. At the conclusion, Hamill has the family gather around Beth’s sickbed. She again begs Jo to tell a story, clearly asking for the “story” of Little Women. It’s the progression of growth, love and maturity between the March sisters that she asks Jo to depict – a tale that still has meaning in modern times.
Little Women, presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, continues through Dec. 3 at the Otto M. Budig eater, 1195 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Info: cincyshakes.com.
