It’s no use, Jo — Sock ‘n’ Buskin had to have it out!
Thursday marked the opening night of Sock ‘n’ Buskin Theatre Company’s Little Women, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.
Directed by Smridhi Malhotra, the company’s final show of their 82nd season that ran at the Kailash Mital Theatre until Sunday brought the classic to life with a passionate cast, intentional design and subtly incorporated indie music.
In the timeless tale, March sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy grow up in their modest Massachusetts country home among rolling fields and flower crowns backdropped by the American Civil War. Each with their own dream to pursue — writing, romance, piano and painting — they come-of-age while navigating relationships and loss throughout their childhood.
Grace Emerson plays rebellious aspiring writer Jo, Erin Chappel plays eldest sister and hopeless romantic Meg, Alexandra Kane plays softhearted pianist Beth and Talia Daigle plays youngest sister and passionate artist Amy. Each cast member perfectly played their characters’ distinct personalities.
Little Women’s dialogue immediately evokes the sisters’ dynamic with its natural, fun and sweet language. The cast’s behaviour made it feel all-the-more real, with Chappel playing with the others’ hair and Daigle embodying the scene-stealing nature of a younger sister when she gets a clothespin stuck on her nose.
Emerson commands as Jo, making it hard not to root for the character and her ambitions. When Emerson and Daigle share the stage, their sibling bickering is captivating as their ideals clash. Daigle’s portrayal of Amy shines across a range of emotions: silly and earnest, yet always at odds with Jo.
Sheila Burpee Duncan plays Marmee, the sisters’ matriarch, who excels at playing the stable and soft mother acting as the glue that keeps the March sisters together. Laasya Kandula plays housekeeper Hannah, her disposition as firm, loyal and familiar.
But the March family isn’t the March family if not complimented by their neighbours, the Laurences. Alec Kyle is hilarious and convincingly elderly in his role as Old Mr. Laurence, and Bo Doyle puts on a stellar performance as Theodore “Laurie” Laurence, the rambunctious boy next door who falls hard and fast for Jo.
Doyle and Emerson do iconic scenes from the story great justice. Doyle’s mannerisms, if not monologue, make it impossible to look away, while it’s equally easy to fall in love with all of Emerson’s eccentricities as Jo.
When Zachary Miller makes a later appearance as the girls’ father home from war, it feels like the audience is welcoming the character back too, and Sam Tinajero-Alvarado* adds contrast to the family’s warm and light nature as stoic and prim Aunt March. Danny Gordon-Boyd plays the sweet-tempered tutor Mr. Brooke, and Gordon-Boyd excels in displaying his character’s bumbling love of Chappel’s Meg.
In the production, piano became the forefront of both story and music, with Kane playing full pieces in her performance as Beth and Daigle doing the same later on.
Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know The End” was foreshadowed on the instrument and later incorporated into the ending. The subtle chords were presented at emotional standstills in the show, hinting gently towards something more – perhaps the answer to the girls’ sought-after meaning of life.
Costume designer Kirby Steinke dressed each character with their full personalities and mannerisms in mind with soft-toned fabrics and lace. Set designers Allison Cook and Kimia Taherion added levels of personality to the set that made the March house feel like home from the iconic garret with Jo’s initials carved upon the writing desk to the living room adorned with delicate lace tablecloths.
Little Women deals with the devastating themes of loss and illness well, and sensitive topics are handled with care. Humour, heartbreak and grief all have a distinct place in the dialogue, all effortlessly balanced in the story along the way.
Curiously, Sock ‘n’ Buskin’s rendition opts to flash forward over much of the book’s second half, instead using Bridgers’ earlier foreshadowed song to quickly show the audience events it doesn’t investigate further before ending. The choice didn’t take away from all of the earlier performances and scenes which stood up on their own and left strong impressions and emotions in their wake.
Overall, Little Women did its iconic source material justice, with perfect casting, convincing performances and design and set choices that brought everyone all a little closer to the March home.
*Sam Tinajero-Alvarado served as the Charlatan’s social media manager in the 2024-25 publishing year.
Featured image by Megan Brooks/Sock ‘n’ Buskin Theatre Company.
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