Given it is the size of a generous living room, the Garrick Studio has proved the perfect venue for Elaine Murphy’s wickedly funny portrayal of three generations of Dublin women navigating the chaos and camaraderie of everyday life.
Little Gem, tonight under the steadfast direction of Meg Brassington, is a play that thrives through its raw emotional proximity and conversational style. Through a series of alternating monologues between the three women we are given a whistlestop tour of love, loss and resilience.
With a well-planned static set and judicious use of props, the focus is solely on the three actors and the life that they breathe into Murphy’s rich (and raucous) language. And in our actresses tonight we have three uniformly strong performances.
Chloe Arrowsmith, as teenage daughter Amber, brings all the cocky rebellion one would expect and morphs well into Amber’s more vulnerable and hopeful moments. Occasionally her delivery is a little quiet even for a studio setting but she captures the energy and adolescent confusion without veering into caricature.
Kathryn Worthington as Lorraine is excellent as she navigates balancing the traumas of her father’s illness and ongoing fallout from her ex-husband’s drug addiction alongside the long-missed spark of passion from a blossoming romance with her salsa class partner. It’s a lovely study of repressed pain (and compulsive cleaning) giving way to spontaneity and letting someone else into her life.
Finally, we have Tracy Burns as the family matriarch, Kay, with a wonderfully coarse and honest performance as Kay comes to terms with the ongoing impact of her husband Gem’s illness and trying to forge a path with the new identity thrust upon her with both moments of hilarity and heartbreak.
Normally this show would be a one-act 90minute play. The Garrick has opted for an interval which does interrupt the pace, but the rhythm and momentum is quickly picked back up in the second part. Laughter is frequent, and sometimes unexpected, given the truckload of drama that Murphy has crammed into the script.
And, overall, tonight has been a reminder of the impact of good storytelling, with stripped back sincerity, warmth and empathy in a portrait of those extraordinary moments we can all experience in our ordinary lives.
Little Gem runs until Saturday 3rd May. For tickets and What’s On, visit https://www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk/whats-on
Reviewer: Lou Steggals
Reviewed: 29th April 2025
North West End UK Rating: