THE GREAT GATSBY at the Cockpit Theatre

★★★

“the repercussions of Jay Gatsby’s gender swap are not fully explored in an otherwise faithful revival of the story”

F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” needs no introduction. The title has entered the language to the extent that everybody now thinks they own a slice of it. Since its publication nearly a century ago it has been the subject of intense analysis, numerous adaptations and various eclectic interpretations. Even the word ‘Gatsby’ was added to the Collegiate Dictionary in 2003. So prolific is its presence that any new presentation, like with the works of Shakespeare, is under pressure to find a new way of looking at it.

Scar Theatre, the Oxford based collective, have grabbed the challenge with both hands by making ‘he’ a ‘she’. The concept appears to be its main selling point so it’s no big reveal or spoiler. It is potentially a fascinating angle to take, although the repercussions of Jay Gatsby’s gender swap are not fully explored in an otherwise faithful revival of the story. Nick Carraway (Ethan Bareham) remains the narrator, slipping into and out of the action as he relates his memories of that long hot summer to his analyst – a device ‘borrowed’ from Baz Luhrmann.

Bareham’s is a natural performance, capturing the essence of Nick Carraway – the unwitting and slightly baffled hero in a world where he doesn’t belong. A slight figure who hints at just the right amount of disdain for the careless people that surround him. Particularly Roman Pitman’s Tom Buchanan; a two-dimensional bully who neither deserves, nor quite pulls off, the whiff of innate privilege that follows him like an unpleasant odour. Lily Carson, as Daisy Buchanan, has the stiffness that serves her well in her cheerless marriage, but she somehow fails to loosen up sufficiently when reunited with the so-called love of her life in Gatsby.

A nod to queerness and feminism, it remains just that; with not enough exploration to earn its advertised status. Emily Serdahl, in the title role, cuts a formidable figure that affirms her ability to succeed ‘in a man’s world’, yet it is impossible to believe that her ambition stems from a deep longing for Daisy. As a pair, their declarations of love are often words without spark or real meaning. We also grapple with the credulity of Gatsby’s backstory (her serving as an officer in the Great War by impersonating a man – for example) which is repeatedly brushed aside rather too efficiently.

There are atmospheric moments, aided by Vanessa Silva’s movement direction and Finley Bettsworth’s moody lighting. The underside of the American Dream is vividly portrayed during the brief visits to Fitzgerald’s ‘Valley of Ashes’. Fitzroy ‘Pablo’ Wickham, as the murderously doomed mechanic George Wilson, is both pitiable and menacing – spoilt only by the writers’ tinkering with the final showdown that dilutes the sense of tragedy. It is a clumsy moment that interrupts the natural momentum of a show that elsewhere ebbs and flows like an unreliable memory. Such inconsistencies do show up quite starkly against the stylised background.

Peter Todd and Mina Moniri (the co-writers and co-directors) have set out to emphasise the queerness that is more covert in the original novel – a subject that has spawned countless debates over the last century. Nick Carraway’s sexuality has been hotly speculated over. This is hinted at here, but like Gatsby’s sapphic makeover, it is more of an abstraction. We are left wanting more. Daisy’s childhood friend Jordan Baker goes some way to addressing this. Played with an impressive, detached coolness by Danielle Nnene, she quietly challenges Gatsby’s motives, yet the credulity is again hindered by Gatsby’s gender.

What survives, though, is the clarity of the story telling. The energy of the parties is matched by the despondency of the underlying wasteland that Fitzgerald prophesised was on the horizon. And much of the iconic original text is intact in this production that does, in fact, underline the ongoing and ceaseless relevance of “The Great Gatsby” in the present day.

THE GREAT GATSBY at the Cockpit Theatre

Reviewed on 29th November 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Jenn Webb

Previously reviewed at this venue:

HITS AND PIECES #5 (SPICE GIRLS) | ★★★★ | April 2024

THE THREEPENNY OPERA | ★★★ | September 2023

MY BODY IS NOT YOUR COUNTRY | ★★★ | August 2023

END OF THE WORLD FM | ★★★ | August 2023

999 | ★★★ | November 2022

LOVE GODDESS, THE RITA HAYWORTH MUSICAL | ★★ | November 2022

THE RETURN | ★★★ | November 2022

L’EGISTO | ★★★ | June 2021

THE GREAT GATSBY

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★★★★

“Wright’s writing and Patarkatsishvili’s staging pitch the message just right”

Orwell, Kafka and Beckett walk into a bar. Sounds like the premise for a joke, and indeed there is a perverse layer of humour that runs through Craig Wright’s “The Unseen”, but on the whole it is made up of pretty serious stuff. There are definite shades of the three writers’ influence, who could well have been swapping notes as they downed their drinks. The bar man is a young, interrupting Tarantino who fancies himself as a bit of a dramaturg while pulling pints. Frivolity and comparison aside, though, Wright’s heavy, harrowing, thought-provoking style comes with its own ambition, agenda and raw uniqueness.

We are plunged straight into the action. Even during the pre-show we are involuntary voyeurs, gazing upon Valdez (Waj Ali) and Wallace (Richard Harrington) in their solitary prison cells. Wallace is asleep while Valdez nervously looks around him, twitching at the sight of invisible ghosts. We see the whites of his eyes as they roll upwards in fear, dejection and confusion. Simon Kenny’s brutally realistic set encases both protagonists in their own worlds. Their own cells, and thoughts. Without making eye contact they communicate, passing the time playing memory games to keep madness at bay. They are grieving for their lost freedom, exacerbated by the fact that neither one (nor us) knows why they have been incarcerated.

Fear and paranoia continually wrestle with hope and optimism. The former invariably gaining the upper hand. A distinctly wordy play, both actors maintain an extraordinary command of the dialogue. Harrington’s Wallace is the more restrained and resigned elder captive. A slave to routine after eleven years, he is just about managing to keep control of his own mind. Waj Ali, as the younger Valdez, is a relative newcomer. Just three years into his stretch he is on rockier ground, conjuring up a hallucinatory woman in the next cell who has promised to help him escape. But both know their only escape from this world is death. Both actors exercise an extraordinary attention to detail that accentuates their personality traits; long buried under institutionalisation.

Into this world bursts Smash, the prison guard whose impossibly complex and damaged character is breathlessly brought to life by Ross Tomlinson. As much a prisoner as the two captives, he lashes out with murderous intent in a vain attempt to kill the oppressive empathy he feels. Both torturer and tortured, we can’t help but wonder how Tomlinson unwinds after each performance. It is a savage hour and a half, and undoubtedly polemic. Director Iya Patarkatsishvili describes it as “more than just a story; it is a call to action”. And for that reason, it deserves to be seen far beyond the smaller space of Riverside Studios. The macabre gallery we walk through on our way into the auditorium bears witness to the reality that is more disturbing than the fiction. The play’s anonymous setting is betrayed by the caged headshots of Russians who have taken a stand against Putin’s regime and found themselves imprisoned as a result.

Against this backdrop, Wright’s writing and Patarkatsishvili’s staging pitch the message just right. Short enough to hit us with a whiplash force, the grotesque humour pricks up our ears to the message that sinks in as insidiously as Orwell’s infamous ‘newspeak’. Not for the faint hearted, its own heart is ferociously strong. Mike Walker’s palpitating sound design sends literal alarm bells. This is happening every day. The finely nuanced and authentic performances are integral to our understanding of ‘The Unseen’ characters. They need to be seen, just as their factual counterparts do. “The Unseen”, in short, is a must see.

THE GREAT GATSBY at the Cockpit Theatre

★★★

“the repercussions of Jay Gatsby’s gender swap are not fully explored in an otherwise faithful revival of the story”

THE GREAT GATSBY at the Cockpit Theatre

Reviewed on 29th November 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Jenn Webb

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE GREAT GATSBY

THE GREAT GATSBY

THE UNSEEN at the Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Wright’s writing and Patarkatsishvili’s staging pitch the message just right”

THE UNSEEN at the Riverside Studios

Reviewed on 25th November 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE UNSEEN

THE UNSEEN