Alcott in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her LIfe, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates

“A Foreword by Meg” (1893)

“A Foreword by Meg” (1893) Anna Alcott Pratt When an admirer wrote Louisa May that she had acted in a production of “The Witch’s Curse,” from Little Women, Alcott responded: “The original libretto still exists, written in an old account book, with stage directions, which would convulse any manager, and a list of properties and costumes seldom surpassed . . . . My acting days are over, but I still prance now and then with my boys, for in spite of age, much work, and the proprieties, an occasional fit of the old jollity comes over me, and I find I have not forgotten how to romp as in my Joian days” (Selected Letters, 182). While Anna, in this preface, recalls the plays that the real March sisters presented for family and friends at Hillside in Concord, both of the older Alcott girls participated in numerous dramatic performances in Concord during the 1850s and 1860s and in Walpole, New Hamsphire, where they spent the summer of 1855. As early as 1850, Louisa confessed that “Anna wants to be an actress , and so do I. We could make plenty of money perhaps, and it is a very gay life. Mother says we are too young, and must wait. A. acts often splendidly. I like tragic plays. . . . We get up fine ones, and make harps, castles, armor, dresses, water-falls, and thunder, and have great fun” ( Journals, 63–64). In the good old times, when “Little Women” worked and played together, the big garret was the scene of many dramatic revels. After a long day of teaching , sewing, and “helping mother,” the greatest delight of the girls was to transform themselves into queens, knights, and cavaliers of high degree, and ascend into a world of fancy and romance. Cinderella’s godmother waved her wand, and the dismal room became a fairy-land. Flowers bloomed, forests arose, music sounded, and lovers exchanged their vows by moonlight. Nothing was too ambitious to attempt; armor, gondolas, harps, towers, and palaces grew as if by magic, and wonderful scenes of valor and devotion were enacted before admiring audiences. Jo, of course, played the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens; for her tragedy-loving soul delighted in the lurid parts, and no drama was [74] * perfect in her eyes without a touch of the demonic or supernatural. Meg loved the sentimental rôles, the tender maiden with the airy robes and flowing locks, who made impossible sacrifices for ideal lovers, or the cavalier, singing soft serenades and performing lofty acts of gallantry and prowess. Amy was the fairy sprite, while Beth enacted the page or messenger when the scene required their aid. But the most surprising part of the performance was the length of the cast and the size of the company; for Jo and Meg usually acted the whole play, each often assuming five or six characters, and with rapid change of dress becoming , in one scene, a witch, a soldier, a beauteous lady, and a haughty noble. This peculiar arrangement accounts for many queer devices, and the somewhat singular fact that each scene offers but two actors, who vanish and reappear at most inopportune moments, and in a great variety of costume. Long speeches were introduced to allow a ruffian to become a priest, or a lovely damsel to disguise herself in the garb of a sorceress; while great skill was required to preserve the illusion, and astonish the audience by these wonderful transformations. The young amateur of to-day, who can easily call to her aid all the arts of the costumer and scene-maker, will find it hard to understand the difficulties of this little company; for not only did they compose their plays, but they were also their own carpenters, scene-painters, property-men, dress-makers, and managers. In place of a well-appointed stage, with the brilliant lights and inspiring accessories of a mimic theatre, the “Little Women” had a gloomy garret or empty barn, and were obliged to exercise all their ingenuity to present the scenes of their ambitious dramas. But it is surprising what fine effects can be produced with old sheets, bright draperies, and a judicious arrangement of lights, garlands and picturesque properties; and Jo’s dramatic taste made her an admirable stagemanager . Meg was especially handy with saw and hammer, and acted as stage-carpenter,—building balconies, thrones, boats, and towers after peculiar designs of her own. Bureaus, tables, and chairs, piled aloft and arched with dark...