Little Women Review - Natalie Anglesey

                                                                   LITTLE WOMEN

Lowry, Salford until 12th Apr 2025

Review by Natalie Anglesey


Many moons ago, while I was baby-sitting my younger sister, my mother returned home to find me in floods of tears. “Beth is dead,” I sobbed.” Oh my God I must ring her mother,” was the reply. “No, not Beth next door,” I explained. “Beth in Little Women, written by Louisa May Alcott , the book I’m currently  reading! “

This has now become a favourite family joke but at the time I was so in love with this tale of love and loss and the characters seemed so real to me that I wondered if a stage version of one of my childhood favourite books would live up to my expectations. So it was with slight misgivings that I went to see this production at The Lowry. This heart-rending story of how the women left behind coped, while the men went off to fight in the American Civil War, has been sensitively adapted for the stage by Anne-Marie Casey. The book was inspired by Alcott’s experiences growing up and has proved to be one of the best loved novels of all time.


This touring production stars Belinda Lang, best known for her roles in the popular Sister Boniface Mysteries and 2point4 Children. She plays the formidable Aunt March. Popular Honeysuckle Weeks, whom you’ll recognise from Foyles War, plays (Marmee). Call the Midwife’s Jack Ashton doubles as (Brooke and Bhaer)  while The Great’s Grace Molony  plays my favourite character as the clumsy, boyish  Jo. Completing the company are Cillian Lenaghan (Laurie), Jade Kennedy (Meg), while Catherine Chalk is frail (Beth), and Imogen Elliott plays beautiful Amy.

 It was an interesting experience to witness the staging of the journey of the March sisters – with tomboy Jo, beautiful Meg, sensitive Beth, and spoilt Amy,  navigating the challenges of living with the consequences of the American Civil War.  Most of the packed auditorium seemed to enjoy watching the family forging unbreakable bonds of love in their world of sisterhood, courage and ambition as they grew into womanhood. 

 Little Women is a celebration of women proving they can be bold, persistent, self-assured and strong in who they are, and what they desire for themselves.  Anne-Marie Casey’s new adaptation of this beloved, classic may offer a rendition of Little Women that breathes a different life into this cherished classic but, in my personal opinion, it failed to ignite as I'd hoped it would. However, I did seem to be in the minority, as the audience rose to their feet to applaud.  Me? I'll probably reread the book again.

LITTLE WOMEN Lowry, Salford 

Until Saturday 12th Apr 2025

Accessible performances




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