Tag: Brigid Larmour

Little Women

Theatre
Jessica Brydges, Julia Brown, Kacey Ainsworth, Rachael McAllister and Meg Chaplin as The March family in Little Women at HOME
Image credit: Chris Payne

Written by Louisa May Alcott

Adapted by Anne-Marie Casey

Directed by Brigid Larmour

HOME in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre

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First published in 1868 this well loved American semi-autobiographical classic tells the story of four sisters who are navigating their teens as they each grapple with what it means to become Little Women. Set during the American Civil War the story unfolds as their mother Marmee holds the home together while their father is off to war and this genteel family adjust to becoming impoverished.

Anne-Marie Casey keeps faithful to the original text while managing to include the main events of the original and its follow-up Little Wives. The focus is firmly on Alcott’s main themes of domesticity, work and true love as the sisters navigate supporting each other financially within the constraints of New England society while deciding if it’s ever possible to marry both for love and financial security.

This is a great piece in that it puts women at its forefront with a range of interesting roles. In this adaptation it is stripped back to just eight actors with six of them women. The ever wonderful Susan Twist does an inspired turn as Aunt March. Imperious and acidic, she is a force to be reckoned with as this elegant patrician attempts to maintain standards for one of New England’s finest families. Kacey Ainsworth is a fine actress who looks perfectly cast as Marmee but at times feels under used and constrained by either the script or Brigid Larmour‘s considered direction. She exudes love and patience as she tries to be a good mother and a dutiful wife and neighbour while worrying about the financial future of her brood.

Susan Twist and Rachael McAllister as Aunt March and Jo in Little Women at HOME.
Image credit: Chris Payne

The sisters are led by Jo who sees herself as rough and wild. She is the aspiring writer who wants home and hearth to remain unchanged forever and her character is based on Alcott herself. Rachael McAllister plays her with passionate enthusiasm giving free rein to Jo’s impetuousity and bad temper as well as her fierce love of family. However there are times when her gauche clumsiness and mulish ways veer too much towards the huffiness of a difficult child and get in the way of taking her seriously as the writer and woman she is attempting to become. Jessica Brydges as Meg seems less conceited than in the original text so her journey to contented marriage with the impoverished but honourable John seems less dramatically interesting. Meg Chaplin is utterly believable as the delicate and docile Beth and her piano playing and singing add a lovely additional element to this production. The youngest and traditionally least likeable sister is Amy who has the most growing up to do. Actress Julia Brown really shines as she delivers a performance that allows her character to grow from a petulant and vindictive child to a worldly and emotionally wise young woman who is ultimately a much better wife for Laurie than Jo could have ever been.

Daniel Francis Swaby gives Laurie plenty of charm and a laconic wit. He has a winsome energy and at times an emotional intelligence that sometimes seems at odds with his attachment for Jo but make for a vibrant addition to the pacing of this production when he is on stage. Tom Richardson plays John Brooks and Professor Bhaer giving both men real decency, compassion and humour. He is especially good as he mentors Jo in New York as the exiled German Professor who passionately believes in the power and importance of The Arts.

Daniel Francis Swaby as Laurie in Little Women at HOME. Image credit: Chris Payne

The set design by Ruari Murchison is visually striking as the tall fine birches of New England stand strong whether in snowy woodland, winter ice skating or in the March home or streets of New York. The staging is simple but ambitious and effective. However the use of several main props so close to the front and sides of the stage may make for tricky sight lines for some audience members. The stage is beautifully lit and the subtle use of sound such as the ticking clock, crackling of ice on a lake or the peal of bells as war ends is a genius touch by Niroshini Thambar.

The script and the thoughtful direction by Brigid Larmour makes for an enjoyable production peppered with moments of warm humour, a depth of love and genuine pathos and despair that reflect real family life both now and in the time Alcott was writing about her Little Women. There are times when the slow pace can be frustrating but as a well rendered piece of nostalgia for the stage this production has much to recommend it.

HOME 8th – 23rd December 2023

The Merchant Of Venice 1936

Large Theatres
Image credit: Marc Brenner

Written by William Shakespeare

Adapted by Brigid Larmour from an idea by Tracy-Ann Oberman

Directed by Brigid Larmour

A Co-production by Watford Palace Theatre and HOME Manchester

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This new adaptation of  Shakespeare’s “problem play” sees actress and writer, Tracy-Ann Oberman and director Brigid Larmour rework The Merchant of Venice for a female Shylock who is a widow and a mother. This female money lender is based on Annie, the great-grandmother of Oberman and all those strong women who emigrated to Britain after the 1905 progroms in Russia. Tracy-Ann Oberman embraces the discomfort of this role as the beleaguered moneylender demanding her pound of flesh, giving a strong impassioned performance in this still widely debated play that questions Shakespeare and his views on Judaism.

The sound of shattering glass offstage indicates that the brewing antisemitism of Thirties Europe is alive and flourishing in the East End of London.This production is set in 1936 to the backdrop of the rise of Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists party and the resulting riots during The Battle of Cable Street on 4th October 1936  when working class people came together in support of the Jewish community. The deeply divisive aspects of this play are further highlighted by the fact that it was also adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany where the characterisation of Shylock was used to validate antisemitism. After Kristallnacht The Merchant of Venice was performed all across Germany.

Here Larmour and Oberman do not shy away from the complexity of their Shylock but balance it neatly against a background of privilege and arrogance as the Venetian noblemen became rather less noble as entitled  Bullingdon Boys in the vein of Boris Johnson, David Cameron and George Osborne caricatures. Their Portia is a cool willowy blonde society heiress equally at home in riding jodhpurs or a bias cut ivory satin evening dress. Clearly modelled on the infamous Diana Mitford, wife of Oswald Mosley who married him at the home of Joseph Goebbels, this is a woman giddy and lethal in her own sense of power.

Image credit: Marc Brenner

The set design and costumes by Liz Cooke work together wonderfully well to capture the gritty side of East End London and the sleek sophistication of society life. Everything about this production suggests a real love for the project and great attention to detail. The music of the period blends Yiddish music and classics such as the apt Stormy Weather. The screen images tell a story of the rise of Fascism and quiet poignant moments on stage such as a disparaging glance between Portia and Jessica say more than words ever could about a society where old money and breeding will always sneer at new money.

This is a strong cast with well balanced performances but ultimately it is the women who shine most brightly. As Portia, a pitch perfect Hannah Moorish hands out money and a ring to Brassanio, her new husband and Shylock finances the Merchant Antonio with her bond; it’s notable that these very different women are also moneylenders exacting and expecting their own pound of flesh. Tracy-Ann Oberman relishes a role that celebrates women she clearly feels incredibly proud off. Her call to arms in the closing sequence is a plea that we are better together…perhaps the placing of some of the audience on stage is also a powerful unifier. In difficult times we all have to make choices where we stand…if we do not then those choices can be ripped away. The most powerful moment in the production is not Oberman onstage but sitting on the rough wooden step. Momentarily beaten by the bullying elite, she is clutching a tiny brown suitcase just like all those still stacked together as a memorial to all those sent to camps such as Auschwitz.

HOME 15th – 25th March 2023