The Little Match Girl
Reviewed by Julia Lloyd George
Loft Ensemble
Through February 16
If you are familiar with the work of Hans Christian Andersen, you know that he was no stranger to tragedy. Even so, he often resolved his rather sad tales by compensating his unfortunate protagonists with a heavenly exit. Based on Andersen’s short story, Elizabeth Suzanne’s The Little Match Girl, which centers on a poor girl, Annalise, who attempts to sell matches on a freezing New Year’s Eve, is no different. Things begin and end in a woeful place for her, yet she retains her innocence all the way through and is duly rewarded.
Your enjoyment will depend a lot on your tolerance for morality plays and a generous heaping of sentimentality. This is the kind of piece that hammers you on the head with the message of helping those in need, yet makes you feel hardhearted for rolling your eyes at it. In fact, the best word I can use to sum it up is “sweet.” It is the kind of show I think would be great for kids — teaching them the importance of selflessness and empathy.
For the discerning adult, however, this candy-coated shell can feel tiresome and a bit dishonest. There are only so many scenes of cartoonishly terrible men and impossibly pure, generous women that one can swallow without craving more nuance and dimension. As the angelic Annalise, Ella Grace Bergeron inevitably wins you over, but she can do little to overcome the flatness of her character. The plot itself — the simple story of this girl trying to survive the night by begging a series of indifferent citizens to buy just one of her matches — become repetitive.
Suzanne admirably attempts to fill the time by spinning out the girl’s fantasies — her games with imaginary friends and other characters from stories she’s heard in the past, including references to Andersen’s own work. These scenes add much needed levity yet do little to advance the story, and appear to exist merely to underscore the importance of imagination in dire circumstances. While one can’t help but sympathize with that message, it’s difficult to see these scenes as anything other than a cute distraction from a desolate reality.
When Annalise finally dies and is guided by her loving, ever-watchful grandmother (Barbera Ann Howard) into heaven, her experience is framed as a difficult but paradigm-shifting lesson for the townspeople — the girl died so that everyone around her could be shaken into examining their lacking morals. Meanwhile, she has achieved true happiness by being reunited with the only person who ever truly loved her. While true to Andersen’s original story, this ending nonetheless feels like a convenient gloss over the tragic significance of a death in the cold.
Loft Ensemble, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through Feb. 16. https://www.loftensemble.org/. Running time: one hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.
