'Little Women' Finds New Life at Next Step Theatre Festival with Bold, Intimate Adaptation by Klara Eales
Playwright, Actor, Producer
What happens when you hand Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women to a young South African writer, give her two months, and tell her to make it personal? You get a striking new stage adaptation by Klara Eales, premiering this May at the Next Step Theatre Festival, where the March sisters are reimagined through a lens of fierce vulnerability, creative grit, and sisterly devotion.
“Little Women is about the in-between,” says Eales, who serves as playwright, actor, and producer. “The word women implies expectation. Little still clings to freedom. That tension—that moment before you become who the world expects you to be—is where I found Jo, and where I found myself.”
The production, brought to life by Are We In Love Productions and directed by Delia Mullen, features Eales in the role of Jo March, alongside Hannah Doherty (Amy), Shira Behore (Meg), and Sofia Insley (Beth). Staged at The Gural Theatre, this adaptation stays faithful to the heart of Alcott’s novel while embracing the rawness of growing up in a world of contradictions.
“We wrestle with ambition, grief, love, and identity—and it’s in that wrestle that we learn who we are,” says Eales.
This latest venture comes on the heels of the company’s Off-Broadway debut with Brilliant Traces, and true to their scrappy, fearless ethos, they took on Little Women with only two months of lead time—one to write, one to rehearse. “We had no plan,” Eales admits. “Just a feeling. I said Little Women, and Hannah just said ‘yes.’ That was it.”
Doherty, Eales’ producing partner, is known for her unshakeable belief in doing more with less—and for her creative obsessions. “For Brilliant Traces, she fixated on an oven. This time, it was a violinist. I thought she was crazy both times. I was wrong both times.”
At its core, this production is about more than just retelling a classic. It’s a tribute to all the “little women”—past, present, real, fictional—who dream too big, feel too deeply, and love too fiercely.
“I hope audiences leave with joy,” says Eales. “And maybe a little more grace for their younger selves.”
