Directing Little Women on stage in Anne Marie Casey’s beautiful adaptation has been huge joy. Louisa May Alcott’s much-loved novel has lived in the hearts of readers for more than 150 years. It has emotional honesty, love and laughter at its heart, and the universality of its themes: family, love, ambition, resilience, and the journey from child to adult, connects with all of us.

This story’s continuing relevance is driven by our connection to the sisters and their journeys, and how we can all find ourselves in one, or several of them. They are not idealised heroines – they are flawed, contradictory, sometimes selfish, sometimes generous, supported by the strength and wisdom of their mother Marmee. They love fiercely, quarrel intensely, and learn, often through pain, how to be the best versions of themselves. Little Women is an enduring human story.

I was fascinated by how Louisa May Alcott’s struggle to succeed as a writer and to claim her voice in a male dominated literary world is mirrored in Little Women. Jo’s resistance to convention and her hunger for creative independence reflect Alcott’s own compromises and convictions. This, by its very nature, is theatrical and unlocked an approach for me as a director – a powerful blurring of reality and fiction.

Audiences love Little Women because it celebrates life without pretending it is perfect. It allows space for dreams while acknowledging that not all of them will come true. Most importantly, it treats the inner lives of women as worthy of deep attention – a radical act when it was written, and still meaningful today.

In our fast-moving world, Little Women offers a reminder of the power of real connection. As the lights go down and the stage fills with their lives, I hope audiences find new things that touch or challenge them in the characters’ triumphs and trials.