We are delighted to present Louisa May Alcott’s original tale, Little Women, adapted by AnneMarie Casey at the Lyric, marking our first Main Stage Production of the 2024 season.
Little Women is a rite of passage story, enchanting readers down the decades who connect with its detailed evocation of childhood, sisterhood, early loves and young adulthood. Always popular, this tale is now recognised as a startling feminist fable of emancipation while still celebrating the warmth and bonds of family. Even if sometimes that warmth can become suffocating and conformist. It’s a tale we can all identify with - how to find our individual spirit and remain part of a family and a society. Is it even possible? What values do you uphold, and at what cost? How far can you push against a system that is designed to keep you in your place? How do you find your voice and make it heard?
The America of the period was suffering the trauma of a Civil War where questions of identity and inclusion were asked (and fought over).
While the values of old Europe still dominated the cultural thought process of the wealthy, everything was beginning to move much faster than it had done. The expansion of the railways began to shrink the giant landscape endangering indigenous ways of life. New modes of communication, like the typewriter, created an excitement of possibilities and spread new and radical ideas
quickly and clearly. Radical thoughts and action created new words and ideas - “Collectivism”, “Trade Unionism”, “Working Class”, “Suffragettes”.
A new world was emerging, the twin giants of Capitalism and Socialism began to wrestle on ideological fronts before descending into the fire and ashes of the twentieth century. But this thunder was in the future and the March sisters wrestle with more immediate and pressing problems. How do they map out a life together, overcome their jealousies and competitive natures and find a partner (or not) to get through the world.
Over the years, Little Women has proved remarkably resonant to different ages and people. It has undergone numerous adaptations for both stage and screen, confirming its popularity with audiences who enjoy its vigorous celebration and examination of sisterhood.
Anne-Marie Casey’s adaptation was first seen at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2011. AnneMarie skillfully intertwines the narratives of Little Women and Good Wives, allowing the audience to follow the journey of these treasured characters from their youth to womanhood.
This Lyric Theatre production of Little Women marks Emily Foran’s directorial debut on the Lyric Main Stage. Emily brings a clear vision and thoughtful energy to this production, and she is backed up by a brilliant creative team of designers, crew, and actors.
It’s a pleasure to boast such an excellent collective brimming with vibrant talent. From seasoned pros to rising stars, this is a marvellous Lyric ensemble.
I hope you enjoy the performance and thank you for supporting your local theatre.
JIMMY FAY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
It is an absolute honour to be directing Anne-Marie Casey’s stunning adaptation of Little Women as my first production for the Lyric’s Main Stage.
Louisa May Alcott’s novel is a timeless triumph that has inspired generations of women to pen their own destiny and exercise their right to choose what they want in life. Myself included.
Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War that dominated the 1860’s, Little Women is a story of duty, heroism and survival during times of hardship. There is something beautiful about the timing of this production as we collectively experience the weight of so much injustice and war, while trying to survive and keep our heads above water. The March family are doing the very same in this adaptation.
The characters of Little Women convey a universality that allows us as a modern audience to take great comfort from their journeys during these challenging times. This is why it was important for me to remain truly faithful to the period across all elements for this production. It enables us to revel in Louisa May Alcott’s revolutionary and modern ideals of feminism which she portrayed through her female characters. This adaptation celebrates this with dialogue that echoes the voices of women today as the March sisters exercise their right to choose what they want in life. Meg makes the choice to marry for love over duty, Jo makes the choice to pursue writing, Amy makes the choice to marry well and support her family and Beth makes the choice to remain at home and find contentment within her family and music.
Abigail ‘Marmee’ March lifts her
girls up and allows them the space to choose what they want in life, laced with unconditional support and love.
Little Women is a story that lives in so many hearts and one that so many of us keep returning to throughout our lives. I hope audiences feel the warmth of nostalgia as they meet these familiar characters again in a new light and see themselves in the March family’s journey, from the depths of grief to the unbreakable bond of sisterhood and the gorgeous joy that sparks from forging our own paths in life.
EMILY FORAN DIRECTOR
When beginning the design process for Little Women the director Emily Foran and myself discussed that the overall feel would be one of softness and unstructured - non stuffy. With that in mind the caged crinolines and corsets of the time were omitted for the four girls and Marmee but Aunt March would remain in her full Victorian grandeur.
I re-watched three of the four Little Women films and it was fascinating to see the development of each of the costume designers styling over the different decades and how each of the sisters were represented, the one thing that remained consistent was that each of the girls’ personality was beautifully woven together with their clothing and this too was my intention.
Colour and print was very important to me throughout, the set designer Tracey Lindsay had incorporated the changing seasons into her design, and I thought it fitting to allocate a season to each of the girls. Jo, Autumn, full of surprises, not predictable, and ever changing. Meg, Winter a delicate beauty responsible for protecting all that is about to bloom. Beth, Spring the yellow season, impermanent but so beautiful and necessary. Amy, Summer- bursting with colour, blooming before our eyes and oh so popular.
Many happy hours were spent researching the clothing from 1860 through to 1866, I looked to online collections at the Met Museum and American Auction houses that specialised in that
time period and found the styling I aspired to achieve. Fabrics used were cotton, dyed calico, linen, wool and silk taffeta types, during the time period the use of chemical aniline dyes became popular and there were a lot of fabulous colours that surfaced in clothing, which has been represented in all the characters’ colour palettes.
The fabrics in the girls’ dresses are reproduced prints from the civil war and the Sontag’s and sorties are knitted from original 1860 knitting patterns.
GILLIAN LENNOX COSTUME DESIGNER
From the beginning, when Emily our director and I sat down to discuss the production, Emily used words which described the emotion and atmosphere within the piece. It did not begin with the visual.
I found myself looking at paintings. Painting of skies, sunsets through trees, individuals walking through high grass with an expansive sky behind them. There was something about the individual going about their life with the vastness of the world continuing around them. I liked the concept of looking into a painting of Little Women. Just as we have our framed screens in modern day, the painting was the framed visual then. It was also all about the
silhouettes for me. The shapes that are seen within the piece. The gorgeous point of the attic roof space, the symmetrical sash windows within the house, the outline of Jo against candlelight writing her stories upon her desk.
I also wanted to show the outside world around them, as the women are always aware of the war that is unfolding. I saw a vast open sky behind the March house, which was ever changing and alive. The illuminated sky allows us to see the silhouettes of the family against the windows as they go about their day. The mood of the sky which lighting controls can support the mood and atmosphere within the piece.
What really stood out to me within the play was the inevitable passage of time. Time, towards womanhood, whether you yearn for it or constantly attempt to repeal it. Time, waiting for the war to pass, for our loved ones to survive and come home. I chose to visually show the passage of time through the changing of seasons. The inevitable growth, fall and rebirth within a tree’s cycle.
Time, that is reliant.
TRACEY LINDSAY
SET DESIGNER
Beth March
John Brooke
Jo March
Meg March
Amy March
Abigail ‘Marmee’ March
Aunt March
Theodore ‘Laurie’ Laurence
Professor Friedrich Bhaer
Writer
Writer (Adaptation)
Director
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Choreographer
Assistant to the Director
Fight Director
Vocal Coach
Music Tutor
Maura Bird
Shaun Blaney
Marty Breen
Ruby Campbell
Tara Cush
Jo Donnelly
Allison Harding
Cillian Lenaghan
Ash Rizi
Louisa May Alcott
Anne-Marie Casey
Emily Foran
Tracey Lindsay
Gillian Lennox
Sarah Jane Shiels
Stuart Robinson
Paula O’Reilly
Debra Hill
Philip Rafferty
Brendan Gunn
Ashley Fulton
Executive Producer
Senior Producer
Casting Director
Production Co-ordinator
Head of Production
Production Manager
Assistant Production Manager
Company Stage Manager
Stage Manager
Deputy Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Managers
Technical Manager
Senior Production Technician
Chief LX and Programmer
Technicians
Set Construction
Lead Scenic Carpenter
Scenic Artist
Scenic Carpenters
Scenic Construction Apprentice
Workshop Assistants
Structural Engineer
Costume Supervisor
Costume Assistants
Maker
Costume maintenance / Dresser
Hair & Make-up Artist
Photography / Videography
Jimmy Fay
Morag Keating
Clare Gault
Kerry Fitzsimmons
Adrian Mullan
Arthur Oliver-Brown
Fergal Lonergan
Aimee Yates
Stephen Dix
Codie Morrison
Kerri Stokes
Patrick Glackin
Ian Vennard
Jonathan Daley
Mairtin Bradley
Patrick Freeman
Liam Hinchcliffe
Danny O’Shea
Declan Paxton
Corentin West
Lyric Scene Shop
Aidan Payne
Chris Hunter
Finn Steadman
Matt Laverty
Jack McGarrigle
Phelan Hardy
Conor Barbour
JC Leinster
Gillian Lennox
Ciara Leneghan White
Mairead McCormack
Marian Hegarty
Arlene Riley
Nuala Campbell
Chris Heaney
Carrie Davenport
Leighton Milne
Johnny Frazer
Graphic Designer
Public Relations / Press
Adam Steele
Rachael Harriott
Communications
MAURA BIRD
BETH MARCH
ACTOR MUSICIAN
Maura is an actor and musican from The Braid currently based in London. Maura trained at The Lir Academy Dublin.
Theatre credits include: ‘Cam’ in To The Lighthouse - (Virginia Woolf, adapted by Marina Carr- Dublin Theatre Festival); ‘Thiasa’ in Pericles (Shakespeare, directed by Conal Morrison) and “Hedvig” in The Wild Duck (directed by Annabelle Comyn).
They will be seen this year costarring as regular character “Molly Zane” in the upcoming television series Fallen - based on the hugely successful series of books by Lauren Kate and produced by Matt Hastings (The Handmaid’s Tale).
Maura is also a music creator known under the alias Mo Phoenix.
SHAUN BLANEY
JOHN BROOKE
U/S THEODORE ‘LAURIE’ LAURENCE, U/S PROFESSOR FRIEDRICH BHAER
Shaun is from Downpatrick and a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast. Best known for his portrayal of Gerry Conlon in Greenshoot’s In The Name Of The Son, and as Jake in the most recent revival Marie Jones’ Stones In His Pockets
Theater credits include: Rhino with Tinderbox Theater Company, and the Scottish premier of David Ireland’s Cyrpus Avenue for the Tron theater, Glasgow.
TV credits include: Game of thrones (HBO); Bloodlands (BBC); Frankenstein Chronicles (ITV); St Mungos (BBC); Halo: Nightfall (Scottfree/343 studios); Farr (RTE); Eat The Rich (RTE); The Lodge (Disney channel) and Dani’s Castle (CBBC).
MARTY BREEN JO MARCH
Marty (Martha) Breen is an actor from Wicklow and a graduate of the Lir Academy.
She recently appeared in the Lyric Theatre/Prime Cut production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which won a UK Theatre Award for Best Revival 2023.
Theatre credits includes: The Tempest (Rough Magic), for which they were nominated for Best Supporting Actress Irish Times Theatre Awards 2023; Lúminaria (Backstage Theatre); Window a World (Dublin Theatre Festival); Once Before I Go (Gate Theatre); Hecuba (Rough Magic), which was filmed for cinema release in 2022.
Television & Film credits include: Baltimore (Samson Films), Doctors (BBC), Vikings: Valhalla (Netflix & MGM), The Doireann Project (RTÉ).
Marty is a founding member of Broad Strokes, an all-women-&-NB improv troupe (Edinburgh Fringe & Dublin Fringe 2022 & 2023).
MEG MARCH
Ruby trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Lyric Theatre credits include: Rough Girls, Lovers: Winners and Losers, Alice the Musical, The Snow Queen & Driving Home for Christmas.
Other theatre credits include: The Half Moon (Edinburgh Festival); Akedah (Hampstead Theatre); Translations (Abbey/Lyric); Into the Woods (NI Opera); Sylvan, Tragik Plastik (Tinderbox); The Broads (Strand Arts); Dirty Talk (No Touching Theatre); And The Band Keeps Marching On (Sky Arts/Barbican); Splish Splash (Oily Cart); The Ferryman (Sonia Friedman Productions); Girls and Dolls (Pintsized Productions); Babble, Lifeboat (Replay); Lady Windermere’s Fan (MAC/Bruiser).
Television, Film & Audio credits include: Counsel (BBC); Stumbling (Doreen Productions); The Dissenter (Dumbworld Productions); Mister Derek, The Circus (BBC Radio 4); On The Street Where We Live (MAC); Did You Hear the One About the Irishman…? (Abbey Theatre).
AMY MARCH
Tara trained in The Gaiety School of Acting in 2017, and Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting 2019.
Theatre credits include: Druid O’Casey: The Dublin Plays (Druid Theatre Co.) which she travelled with on their Ireland and US tour; True Pirates Never Die (Smock Alley Theatre) & The A.R.T of Television (Dead Medium Productions).
Television & Film credits include: Dead Still (Deadpan Pictures); Darklands (Parallel Pictures) the gangland drama series directed by Mark O’Connor; she also played the co-lead role of Megan in comedy pilot Thick As… (Channel 4); Stories From Backwoods (RTÉ & YLE); The Party (Fleming Creative) which was nominated for Best British Short at the BAFTA’s; A Patch of Fog (The Fyzz Facility); The Windemere Children (Warner Bros); Ballywalter (Cowtown Pictures & BT22 Film Ltd) and Polished (NI Screen).
Jo graduated from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Theatre credits include Rough Girls, 1984, The Ladykillers, Forget Turkey, Demented, Ardnaglass on the Air, The Colleen Bawn and Re-energise (co-production with Derry Playhouse) for Lyric Theatre Belfast. She was also part of the Lyric’s Playboy of the Western World which also toured to Gaiety in Dublin.
Other credits: The Hen Do and Vote Dla (GBL); A Station Once Again (Brassneck); Rumplestiltskin (The MAC); The Chronicles of Long Kesh (Grand Opera House); Right Up Your Street (Big Telly Theatre); & Cooking with Elvis and Playhouse Creatures (Bruiser Theatre Company).
She works regularly with BBC Radio and currently can be heard in Quick Comedy for BBC Ireland.
Screen credits include Line of Duty; Ups and Downs; Grace & Goliath; and BBC Children’s drama Tiara Jones, The B-Team, A Good Women Is Hard To Find, St Mungos (BBC).
ALLISON HARDING
AUNT MARCH
Allison trained at The Arts Educational Schools, Drama 1982-1985. Allison is an Actor Musician, born in Portsmouth and lives in Belfast.
Lyric Theatre credits include: Alice The Musical, Peter Pan & Pinocchio (All directed and written by Paul Boyd); Pirates of Penzance (Belfast Ensemble); Kiss Me Kate (NI Opera); Olivier; Into The Woods (NI Operadirected by Cameron Menzies).
West End Theatre credits include: Return to The Forbidden Planet (Bob Carlton); Sister Act, (Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Van Laast); From A Jack To a King (Bob Carlton and Once directed by John Tiffany).
Tour credits include: Sister Act; Blonde Bombshells; The Girls: Planet & From a Jack to A King
Television & Film credits include: Beauty and The Beast; Mamma Mia “Here we go again”; Nova Jones; The Bill; London’s Burning; Moses Jones
Allison has worked for many repertory and regional theatre companies playing parts such as Martha in Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Lucy Lockett, Beggars Opera, Rubella DE Zees in Cinderella and Morgana in Sleeping Beauty.
Awards include: Olivier Award for Best Musical Return To The Forbidden Planet; Irish Times Award Best Production Into The Woods (NI Opera).
CILLIAN LENAGHAN
THEODORE ‘LAURIE’ LAURENCE
Cillian graduated from the Lír Academy in 2019.
Cillian started his theatre career in Blackout (Lyric Theatre) where he played part of the ensemble, he then went on to play Joey in The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Gaiety Theatre), written by Martin McDonagh.
Theatre credits include: Dubliners (Smock Alley Theatre); The Steward of Christendom (The Gate); Staging The Treaty (National Concert Hall); & Waiting For The Offo (The New Theatre).
Television & Film credits include: The Spectacular (Pukin Film); The Woman in the Wall (BBC, Showtime); Falling For The Life Of Alex Whelan (RTÉ Storyland); Dam (Bosco Productions); Short Stay (The Lír Academy) & Ballywalter (Cowtown Pictures & BT22 Ltd).
Cillian will next be appearing on our screens in Small Town Big Story (Sky Originals), written and directed by Chris O’Dowd.
ASH RIZI
PROFESSOR FRIEDRICH BHAER U/S THEODORE ‘LAURIE’ LAURENCE U/S JOHN BROOKE
Ash was born in Belfast and currently lives in London. Ash trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.
Theatre credits include: Piaf (Gate Theatre); A Song at Twilight (Theatre Royal Bath / National Tour); Blood Wedding (Omnibus Theatre); East is East (Trafalgar Studios); Bifurcated (Southwark Playhouse) & Eye/Balls (Soho Theatres).
Television & Film credits include: The Witcher (Netflix); Luther (BBC); Everything I Know About Love (Working Title / BBC); Drifters (Bwark / E4); The Duchess (Netflix / Huron); Unforgotten (Mainstreet Pictures); EastEnders (BBC); Doctors (BBC); Silent Witness (BBC); Hope Street (Long Story TV / BBC); Three Families (Studio Lambert / BBC); The Dead from the Sea (Amalia Film) & A Bedouin Dream (Stop.Watch / RTE).
LITTLE WOMEN / 03 FEB - 02 MAR 2024 / LYRIC THEATRE PRODUCTION
ANNE MARIE CASEYWRITER (ADAPTATION)
Anne-Marie Casey is a screenwriter, novelist and playwright. She has written numerous scripts for TV, Film and Radio productions in the UK, US and Ireland, and adapted novels by Maeve Binchy and William Trevor for film.
Her novels, An Englishwoman in New York, and The Real Liddy James, are published by Hodder in the UK and Putnam/Penguin in the US.
Her first play, Artemisa, about the artist Artemisa Gentileschi was staged at The Turtle Key Arts Centre, London.
Her adaptations of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte enjoyed sell-out runs at the Gate Theatre, Dublin. Her new version of Little Women was produced in 2022 by the Pitlochry Festival and Watford Palace Theatres, and in December 2023 this production was staged at HOME Manchester.
EMILY FORANDIRECTOR
Emily is a director for theatre and film from Rostrevor, Co.Down and based in Belfast.
She trained at The Lir Academy, Trinity College Dublin after studying Drama at Queen’s University Belfast. Her work spans across the island of Ireland, working with Druid Theatre, The Lyric, The MAC, The Everyman Cork, Prime Cut Productions, An Grianán Theatre Letterkenny, Livin’ Dred, Tinderbox, The New Theatre Dublin and Greenshoot Productions.
Credits include Emily’s debut Northern Ireland Screen-funded short film BAD VIBES which was recently screened at Galway Film Fleadh, Belfast Film Festival as well as festivals in America and France; Super-Bogger by Clare Monnelly with Livin’ Dred; The Half Moon by
Alice Malseed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The Lyric Theatre; REMIX by Fionnuala Kennedy with Prime Cut Productions; The Dead Letter Office by Mary-Lou McCarthy with The Everyman Cork; returning as guest director for Dancing at Lughnasa at The Lir Academy; REVVED by Patrick Quinn at An Grianán Theatre and The Lyric; New Speak: Reimagined with The Lyric; Quicksand by Elizabeth Moynihan at The New Theatre: Dublin; Extremities by William Mostrosimone at The New Theatre: Dublin; SHARKTANK with The Movement Collective at Stockholm Fringe Festival; We Like it Here by Jonathan M. Daley at The Lyric and After the End by Dennis Kelly at The Lyric and The New Theatre: Dublin.
Recent audio drama work includes Bloodlines by Vittoria Caffola at The Lyric and Except a Man, a series of monologues by Jan Carson at The MAC. For TV, Emily directed Lockdown Anniversary by Lata Sharma, an episode from The Lyric Theatre and BBC NI’s series Splendid Isolation. She also directed Partition by Nandi Jola, a short film as part of Brassneck Theatre Company’s SIX project.
Emily is a Reveal Artist with Prime Cut Productions for 2023/24. She was a recipient of Druid Theatre’s Marie Mullen Bursary in 2020. She was a resident Hatch Artist at The MAC with The Movement Collective in 2020.
TRACEY LINDSAYSET DESIGNER
Hailing from Derry, Tracey trained at The University of Wales, Aberystwyth receiving a BA Honours in Drama and Scenography.
Recent design credits include: Set Design The Headless Solider: An Opera Triptych (The Belfast Ensemble); Set Design Rhino (Tinderbox Theatre Company); Set Design The Hen Do; Set Design Rapunzel (Martin Lynch & GBL Productions).
Other credits include: Set Design Hume-Beyond Belief: The Life and Mission of John and Pat Hume (Playhouse, Derry); Set and Costume Design Silent Trade (Kabosh Theatre Company); Set Design The Trumpet & The King (Terra Nova Productions); Set and Costume Design Big Man (Lyric Theatre); Set and Costume Design Bridesmaids of Northern Ireland (Martin Lynch & GBL Productions); Set Design Birds Of Passage In The Half Light (Tinderbox Theatre Company); Costume Design X’ntigone (Prime Cut Productions & The MAC, Belfast); Set and Costume Design In The Name Of The Son -The Gerry Conlon Story (Green Shoot Productions); Costume Design and Associate Set Design Distortion (MAC, Belfast); Set and Costume Design The Shedding Of Skin (Kabosh Theatre Company); Set and Costume Design Billy Boy (EastSide Arts); Design Associate Abomination: A DUP Opera (The Belfast Ensemble and Outburst Arts) Winner of ‘Best Operatic Production’ at The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards.
GILLIAN LENNOXCOSTUME DESIGNER
After graduating with a BA Hons in Fashion and Textiles from The University of Ulster, Gillian became a designer in the fashion industry. She worked for Marks & Spencer Menswear before a 14year tenure as Head Designer for a London-based manufacturing / design company. Her designs were featured in ASOS, Dunnes, and A-Wear, being showcased in editorials. Gillian gained global insights into textile design through work in Paris, Syria, and Morocco.
She freelanced for Universal Studios, contributing to films like Your Highness and The Northman
Before being appointed as Costume Supervisor with the Lyric Theatre in August 2017 Gillian freelanced as a maker with the Lyric Theatre, working on various productions including Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf,
The Gingerbread Mix Up, The 39 Steps and The Ladykillers
For the Lyric Theatre, Gillian has supervised the costume department on all producing shows for the past six years and has been the Costume Designer for Dr Scroggy’s War, Good Vibrations, Alice: The Musical, Double Cross, Rough Girls (Arts & Business Awards), Dark of the Moon, Shirley Valentine, Peter Pan: The musical, 1984 (Postponed Covid), Sadie, Dracula, Pinocchio, Blue stockings, The Snow Queen, Romeo & Juliet, Good Vibrations 2023 (Grand Opera House, Belfast & Irish Arts Center, New York) & Hansel & Gretel
Last year Gillian was the Costume Designer for Tosca (NI Opera) where her designs were showcased on the Grand Opera House stage.
SARAH JANE SHIELSLIGHTING DESIGNER
SJ began designing lighting in Dublin Youth Theatre, completing M.Sc in Interactive Digital Media 2021 and a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies 2006 (Trinity), and the Rough Magic Seeds3 programme 2006 - 2008. From 2010 - 2017, she was co-artistic director of WillFredd Theatre.
Previous work with the Lyric includes This Shit Happens All The Time, All Mod Cons and Educating Rita. Other recent work includes You Belong To Me, (Rough Magic Theatre), Peter Pan (Gate Theatre), Faust, Werther (Irish National Opera), Gold In The Water (One Thousand Pieces), Party Scene, Conversations After Sex (This Is Pop Baby).
STUART ROBINSONSOUND DESIGNER
Stuart Robinson is an established composer, sound designer, music producer and audio engineer. An active songwriter and gigging musician for many years, Stuart entered the world of theatre in early 2019 and since then has worked on many shows across the UK and Ireland. Stuart strives to
capture and convey emotion with his work.
Recent projects include: Glurbs (Nubridge Publishing); SuperBogger (Livin’ Dred) & Re-Mix (Prime Cut Productions).
PAULA O’REILLYCHOREOGRAPHER
Theatre credits include: Hansel & Gretel (Lyric Theatre); Rapunzel - A Tangled Pantomime (GBL Productions at The Waterfront Hall, Belfast); Some Where Out There You (The Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Lyric Theatre & Prime Cut Co-Production); LIE LOW (Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, Primecut Productions, The Abbey Theatre Dublin & The Traverse); The Half Moon (Lyric Theatre & The Pleasance Dome); Tartuffe (The Abbey Theatre, Dublin & National Tour); Silent Trade (Kabosh, The Lyric Belfast & NI Tour); Aladdin (GBL, The Waterfront, Belfast); Bridesmaids of Northern Ireland (GBL, The Grand Opera House Belfast); Lie Low (Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, Project Arts Centre, The Lyric); The Half Moon (Alice Malseed & Green Shoot Productions); Callings (Kabosh); Distortion (The MAC); The Shedding of Skin (Kabosh); Beauty and The Beast (The Marketplace & GBL); Secrets of Space (Cahoots NI, The MAC Belfast & USA Tour); The Snapper, Revival (The Gate Theatre, Dublin); The Odd Couple (The Everyman, Cork); Bigger People (The Local Group and Pentabus); In Our Veins (Bitter Like A Lemon and The Abbey Theatre); The Tales of Hoffmann (Irish National Opera); The Snapper (The Gate); Pulse (Primecut Productions); Hansel & Gretel (The MAC); SINNEAD, One Night Only for Two Nights (The MAC); Harder, Faster, More (Red Bear Productions at The Project); Acis & Galetea (Ireland National Opera at The National Opera House and National Tour); Herculaneum (Wexford Festival Opera); Cristina Regina di Svezia, Le Roi Malgre Lui, A Village Romeo & Juliet, The Magic Flute (Wexford Festival Opera); Orfeo ed Euridice (Buxton Opera Series).
DEBRA HILLASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR
Debra is an Actor, Drama Facilitator and Youth Theatre Director born and bred in Belfast. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Drama from Queen’s University and further trained at The Acting Studio, New York in their Conservatory. She just completed her 6th year in Pantomime with GBL Productions and is starring in a new show with Replay Theatre Company for the Belfast Children’s Festival in March.
Last year she starred in The Crack in Everything by Jo Egan with Macha Productions which was performed at The Playhouse, Derry before travelling to The Parliament Buildings in Westminster and The Irish Embassy to perform the testimonies of the lives of six young people killed during The Troubles. She stars in Runny Honey with Spanner in the Works looking at women in the prison system within Northern Ireland which won Best Production at the Buxton Fringe. She can be heard on The Mac website in several of their audio plays for NINOW100 project. Debra has recently started to delve into other areas of theatre-making including Operator on Rhino by Tinderbox Theatre Company that was performed at The Lyric in October and was included in The Stage’s Top 50 Shows of 2023 in UK and Ireland.
This is her first-time being Assistant to the Director on a production and she is absolutely delighted to learn and discover more moving parts to a creative process.
To appreciate Louisa May Alcott’s motivations for writing Little Women (1868-69), knowing about her parents and her upbringing in Concord and Boston, Massachusetts in the 1830s and 1840s helps to fill out the picture. The second daughter (of four) to Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, Louisa was exposed to literature, philosophy, and the need for equal educational opportunities for all from a young age. Her father was a renowned if, on occasion, controversial writer and philosopher who moved in the somewhat loosely defined group of Transcendentalists, while her mother proved a more reliable source of support and encouragement for the young Louisa’s efforts to become a writer. Concord was home to Ralph Waldo Emerson, who introduced Louisa to Goethe and the European Romanticists, and Henry David Thoreau, who received Louisa and her father at his Walden Pond retreat. Margaret Fuller, women’s rights activist and America’s first female war correspondent, taught with Bronson Alcott in his Temple school in Boston before it closed in 1839 after he admitted a black girl as a pupil, while Samuel May, her maternal uncle was as a leading abolitionist in Boston; indeed, Alcott counted the anti-slavery activists William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Parker as part of her wider social circle.
Little Women was not Alcott’s first foray into literature: a short story, “The Rival Painters,” was published in 1852, and the children’s story collection, Flower Fables, written for Emerson’s daughter Ellen, in 1854. The book originally came in two parts: Little Women; or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868), with its sequel, Part Second, following in 1869; all subsequent editions have combined the two parts into one text. Beyond these basic publication facts, Little Women has a literary and cultural legacy that cannot be overstated. Across 154 years, Little Women has never
been out of print, has sold in excess of ten million copies, and is, arguably, the novel cited by American women writers as the most important formative influence on their own careers. A thinly veiled autobiographical account of Alcott’s own upbringing, it traces the childhood and early womanhood of the central character, Jo March, and her efforts to pursue a career as a female writer.
The similarities between the fictional Jo March and her creator Louisa May Alcott are numerous. Both are the second eldest of four daughters; both lose a sister in tragic circumstances - Alcott’s sister Lizzie died from the effects of scarlet fever in 1858, an illness Alcott herself managed to survive - indeed, illness would recur throughout Louisa’s life: in 1863, she was struck down by typhoid pneumonia while working as an auxiliary nurse in the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington D.C. during the American Civil War; the treatment for the condition, large doses of mercury, left her with persistent neuralgia and fatigue for the remainder of her life which, increasingly, meant that the physical act of writing itself became almost impossible. In 1880, Alcott adopted her youngest sister May’s daughter after May had died in childbirth in Paris the previous year. Louisa’s last years were spent caring for her father after he suffered a paralytic stroke in 1883. She died on 6 March 1888, two days after her own father’s passing.
PHILIP MCGOWAN PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN LITERATURE AT QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST
“AGREEMENT: AN OUTSTANDING EVENING, A LANDMARK PLAY, A THOROUGHLY DESERVED FIVE STARS” IRISH TIMES
GUARDIAN
