THE PLAY P

LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott Adapted by Peter Clapham

Colin Brodie, a play director for The Good Companions, Edgware discusses the production directed by Yvonne Miltiadou

The Good Companions ADS was formed in 1933 and over the yea rs has prod uced a II types of drama, as well as large-scale musicals iltld pantomimes. It is nmv one of the leading drama companies in the London Borough of Barnet. Each yem we enter the Barnet and District Drama Festival, a three-act play festival running from March to the end of May, and have been fortunate to win n1.any awards over the last twenty years.

After considering a number of plays, Liltle Wom ell was chosen in the latte r part of 1999. In discussing the production, the Director said one of the reasons for choosing this play was that it gave opportunities for some of our younger members to have \ovorthwhile parts, the age range of the cha racters being from 12 to 70+ years. In addition, the ratio of seven women to four men was suitable for our company, which, like many others, has a large number of women members .

BACKGRO PL T

This play is a very faithful adaptation of the world-famous novel written in 1868 by Louisa May Alcott. The book is based to a large degree on actual events that happened to the author and her family in her youth. For mucb of that time she was the main support of her family, and she liked

young actor to play the teenage boy nex t door. We were fo rtunate in being able to cast an excellent 12­year-old girl, together with an equally good 16-year­old. A newcomer to our grou p for our las t production proved to be a perfect La urie even though he was only 15 years old .

The performances were to be in April 2000, and rehearsals started early in thc Ncw Year.We usually rehearse only in the evenings, except for a few Sunday afternoons before the dres rehearsals. We rehearsed twice a week to

start with and had a total of about 34 rehearsals altogether. This is more than we normally have for a three-act play and was in fact the same number of rehearsals we had with a cast of 44 for our previous prod uction, Carousel.

Yvonne Miltiadou, the Director, thought it paid off to have these extra rehearsals: the cast bonded as a 19th-century family and became familiar with the period costumes and set. She was very pleased with the happy atmosphere during rehearsals, which meant that time was not generally wasted.

We had a press photo-call, in costume, about two weeks before the show and our usual dress and technica l rehearsals, on the Friday, Sunday and Tuesday before the opening night.

to write and visit the theatre. This book, when published, brought hcr This play requires a full fame, fortune and box set, wi th an early 19th­international prestige. The century American style to story tells of the March it. Care needs to be taken to family, with four daughters, get the right sort of mother and maidservant fireplace, wiadows, doors left at home, while Mr and curtains and all the March is away as a appropriate decor. The clergyman serving in the play is set in a large American eivil War. This comfortable parlour, wi th a adaptation was first wide archway into the hall. produced in 1960, and This allows a large part of subsequently rewritten in the staircase to be seen, but 1986 also means that the Jatter

has to be constructed as CAST NG something that is in period. looks good and can lKThe play requires four used by the most of the young actresses to play the cast. We have a small butdaughters, two of whom are dedicated stage crew and young teenagers, and also a we build all our sel!;

16 DE(EMBER

straight onto the ~tage. We are ablE' to do this bE'cause we are fortunate to have our O\<\'n stage and a large quantity of flats and scenery. We decided to wallpaper all the walls and looked at various patterns to ge t a Victorian feel to it. In the end we chose h.vo con tras ting papers: one for the parlour in a stripe of the period, ,1!1d a matdling one with a fleur-de-Iys type patte rn for the hallway. The co rrect period furniture had to be borrowed from members ,lI1d fri ends, but we <llso had to hire some, so thilt everythin g looked just right.

One of the items on stage is an old-fashioned piano, illmost impossible to obtain. It is the sort thal has hig h legs, with a narrow keyboard that only stretches halfway along the length of the piano. Michael Daker, one of the cast, sa id he thought he could make a realistic­looking piano, so we said "Co ahead and make it!" So he did , and the fini:hed job was very realistic indeed .

For a period play we feel the right costumes to be very important. We are very fortunate in ha ving an extensive wardrobe area in which we have hundreds of costumes of all so rts. However, for this production we decided to hire most of the cos tumes from a loca l supplier. The DiTector also decided that the correct petticoats and undergarments should be wom by the women, including hoops for the skirts where appropriate. We also believe that the women should wear long skirts during all rehea rsals, and we were able to have several reheilrsals with the full final costumes. It is very important to make sure that the cas t know how to stand, sit and deport themse lves for a period play. This play is set in the 1850s, and people stood and sat

very differently from the way they do today. We had five very young people on stage, two of them w ith not much experience, so great ca re was taken to show them the correct posture, sllch as the men putting one hand behind their backs, the girls holding out their skirts as they sa t down, and no one sitting slovenly or with their legs crossed!

The properties are also important

DECEMBER

in a period play, and care was taken to ensure that nothing on stage was too modern. Pictures, mirrors and lamps had to be of the right age.

A photo on the mantelpiece had to have the right period frame, and even the books on the shelves were old - some of them being f.rom the 19th centu ry.

There are a few sound effects in this play, such as doorbell s, clocks chiming and a carriage arriving. From past experience, w -' find it better to use the real sound on the spot and not a recording: it's far safer and usually gives a more accurate sound. So, when a chamcter has to knock on the door or ring the bell, why not have the actor concerned ac tually do that7 The number of plays I hav' seen where the character ent s tage left and the sound of the bell ringing obviously comes from a member of the stage crew stage right is unbelievable.

The lighting for this play is simple. The scenes vary from morning to afternoon, to ea rly evening and night. The Ughting needs to change accordingly for each scene. The evening scenes are lit by an oil lamp, and so the lighting needs to come mainly from that area, with a

little gentle background lighting. In the middle of one scene, there is a pil5sing of time from early evening to late evening, and this is shown by gently lowering the lights for a moment and then slowly bringing them up agai n.

As it is a straight play, the music required is usually at the beginning and end of sce nes. Originally, record ed music was going to be used but, du e to a last-minute technica l hitch, our Musi ca l Directo r was asked to play appropri ilte pinno music instead . This was fortunate as the Adjudicator of the drama fes ti va l commented On it being a good idea for this particular play.

In the playa character has to play the piano on stage while the family sing a hymn in one instance and sing carols round the piano in a later scene. It was decided that, although we had the piano on stage, the yo ung actress would ha ve to mime to someone else play ing off stage at the same time. This was timed so well that the audience thought she was actually playing and the Adjudicator said she couldn 't tell that she was not!

This proved a very rewarding play to do, On first reading it seemed to me a simple play, not difficult to produce and almost too

",tD

undemanding for our company. H ow wrong I was. It is a well -written and thoughtful play, full of the feel of America at thilt time and of how a family such as the Marchs lived and played. There are excellent pilrts for the youngste rs and a chance for a good ~ctress in the part of

Irs MaTch.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the rehearsaLs and became interested in hovl' those people

lived a nd behaved. The young actors, who started out a little awkward and un sure of themselves, blossomed during rehemsals, and became so sure and excellent in their roles that they were in danger of outshining the older, more experienced members of the cast.

The play was very well received by the audience each night, with many com ments on the superb se t and costumes.

And how did we fare in the festiva l? Although we didn't win Best All Round Production, we were only five marks off the winning p lay. However, we were pleased th at we had won the followin g awards: Best Theatrical

Production for Yvonne Miltiadou as Director and the cup for Best or Most Promising Young Player, which went to Li zzie Jankowski, Rachel Kearns and John Heagney as Amy, Beth and Lauri e. The Adjudicator thought that these youngs ters aged 12, 15 and 15 were all so outstanding and mature in the playing of these parts that she cold not separate them. So she decided to give the award jointly ­for the first time.

To other groups, who may have more women members than men, I would recommend a look at this play; it could pro ve very worthwhile.

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