Tag Archives: St Paul’s Church

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

★★★

St Paul’s Church

THE GREAT GATSBY at St Paul’s Church

★★★

The Great Gatsby

“Tethered Wits do deliver with what is clearly a grand night out”

 

There are few novels of which both the opening and closing lines are instantly recognisable, even by those who haven’t read the book. F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” is probably at the top of that list. So famous now that ‘Gatsby’ has entered the English language and taken on a life of its own, with meanings that have often drifted away from its origins. ‘Tethered Wits’, the Cotswold based open air touring company, have grabbed the title and are respectfully putting it back where it belongs, with their faithful and solid interpretation of the iconic novel. With just five actors in the cast, they focus on the characters. A group of flawed, tragic and careless people caught in the American Dream. Simultaneously chasing it and trapped by it. “The Great Gatsby” is not all about the parties.

Having said that, it opens with a party. After sampling the cocktails in the grounds of St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, we are now seated under Gatsby’s summer sky, in concentric semicircles, as though at a wedding. After a burst of trombone and saxophone, Nick Carraway (Oliver Stockley) introduces himself and invites us into the story. Told through Carraway’s eyes in the novel, Stockley is now unwittingly the master of ceremonies; a little bewildered, slightly goofy, but with a world-weary wisdom drawn from hindsight.

The other four performers play many parts. They each have their principal role, but with deft use of the smallest prop or costume accessory, they waltz in and out of the minor characters. Sometimes fleeting, but each integral to steering the story to its inevitable end. Being so familiar with the novel it is difficult to say for sure; but newcomers (where have you been?) may be thrown into confusion occasionally. But let’s not forget that when the novel was published in 1925 it was generally panned, and Fitzgerald himself complained that “of all the reviews… not one had the slightest idea what the book was about”. A knee-jerk and self-inflated reaction, perhaps, but it gives you licence to occasionally lose track, so don’t worry.

Emma Hodgkinson’s pacey adaptation covers the key plotlines, and keeping Nick Carraway as the narrator allows the beauty of Fitzgerald’s eloquent prose to remain largely intact. Whenever it gets too close to exposition, the players interrupt and take over. As Gatsby, Rory Dulku – despite the requisite (though always misjudged) matinee idol looks – captures the nervousness and social awkwardness of this obsessive personality. He also plays George Wilson, the down-trodden garage owner. It is a risky doubling that could prove problematic, but Dulku successfully compartmentalises them. Olivia Willis as Daisy Buchanan and Amelia Stanimeros as Jordan Baker confidently twist through the story, almost like a triple-threat double act. With their background in dance, they both add rhythm and scale to the party scenes. Stanimeros also plays Myrtle Wilson, the tragic mistress of Tom Buchanan. Deakin Van Leeuwen’s Tom is an imposing, bullying figure – a touch too thuggish which conceals the innate sense of privilege. The showdown over Daisy between him and Gatsby, however, is impressive. Dulku’s reaction (forged by his facial expressions alone) when Van Leeuwen clearly touches a nerve is pretty spot on.

Overall, the production treads a safe path. The comedy is hinted at when required and the tragedy is faithfully represented (you all know it ends badly, right?). The darkness doesn’t quite shine through though (I’m sure that’s an oxymoron of which Fitzgerald would approve). We never fully appreciate the price these people have paid for chasing unattainable dreams. The “future that year by year recedes before us”. Fitzgerald’s novel is ultimately a sad and melancholic meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. But – hey – some razzamatazz is called for, and it is what people expect when they think of Gatsby. Tethered Wits do deliver with what is clearly a grand night out. Maybe not as grand as one of Gatsby’s parties, but who has Gatsby’s budget these days?

 


THE GREAT GATSBY at St Paul’s Church

Reviewed on 17th August 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Cosmic Xposure

 

 

 

More outdoor reviews:

 

La Cage Aux Folles | ★★★★★ | Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre | August 2023
Annie Get Your Gun | ★★★★ | Lavender Theatre | July 2023
Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-Written | ★★ | Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre | June 2023
Once On This Island | ★★★★ | Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre | May 2023

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

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St Anne Comes Home

★★★★

St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden

St Anne

St Anne Comes Home

St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden

Reviewed – 30th August 2020

★★★★

 

“The three singers each give pitch-perfect, passionate performances that lift the material beyond the realm of ‘folk’, allowing the listener to hear the underlying grander potential”

 

Stories are everywhere; and the inspiration behind these stories can spring up in some of the most unlikely places. This is certainly true for Jack Miles, the writer/composer of “St Anne Comes Home”. There was nothing particularly special about his bus ride through a rain-soaked Vauxhall, his spirits as damp as the pavement outside his window. There was nothing special about the man in the church doorway, whose solitary, melancholic profile flickered past as the bus turned away. Yet half an hour later that vague shadow had morphed into a multi-coloured, multi-faceted scenario in Miles’ mind.

We all do it, at some point. Paul Simon famously scribbled the lyrics to the iconic folk song “America” while imagining the lives of his fellow Greyhound bus passengers. Finding the drama within the minutiae of the mundane is a skill that Miles has put to good use in this new ‘folk musical’ premiering in the centre of Covent Garden, as part of the Iris Theatre Summer Festival in the garden of St Paul’s Church.

James (Jordan Castle) is the focal character; homeless and, to the annoyance of the local fair-weather parishioners, has made a temporary home in the doorway of St. Anne church. Estranged from his young daughter he seems initially to be running away from his problems. Here he meets Bridget (Rebecca McKinnis) who is trapped in an abusive marriage and struggling to raise her own child. Over tea and sympathy, they share their stories. Meanwhile Russell (Mathew Craig), the Catholic priest, battles with his own demons, torn between letting James into the flock or, by bowing to his congregation’s unchristian intolerance, rejecting him.

It is within the songs that one gets the true sense of the story, rather than the dialogue of platitudes that link them. The three singers each give pitch-perfect, passionate performances that lift the material beyond the realm of ‘folk’, allowing the listener to hear the underlying grander potential. At times, however, the emotion outweighs the content. The storyline follows a predictable path along which the stakes are never raised high enough to warrant the sheer outpouring of grief and anger that these singers convey. If this is an obstacle to being swept away by the characters, we do have the consolation of being blown away by the charisma of the cast.

And Jack Miles has crafted a selection of very fine songs. Miles himself accompanies on guitar, alongside Claudia Fuller on violin and Ben Jones on Double Bass. Under Joe Beighton’s assured musical supervision the delicacy of the arrangements highlights the fluctuating moods and melodic structure. Jones switches from bowing to picking in a beat, matching the emotional U-turns of the characters, while Fuller’s violin soothes and angers in perfect time to the libretto.

From the back seat of a bus to a front seat in London’s theatreland (albeit in the open air, while most of the theatre’s doors are still closed) this musical has been a year in the making so far. Director Martha Geelan has been at the helm in shaping the drama, moulding the imagination of Miles into a refreshing new piece of musical theatre. I don’t think they should stop here though. The journey is only just beginning, but that is meant as a sincere compliment. At the moment it comes across as a storm in a teacup, but its horizons are so much wider than that.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Harry Grout

 


St Anne Comes Home

St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden

 

Previously reviewed by Jonathan:
Tell It Slant | ★★★ | Hope Theatre | February 2020
The Importance Of Being Earnest | ★★★½ | The Turbine Theatre | February 2020
Closed Lands | ★★★ | The Vaults | March 2020
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester | ★★★★★ | Cadogan Hall | March 2020
The Kite Runner | ★★★★ | Richmond Theatre | March 2020
The Last Five Years | ★★★★ | Southwark Playhouse | March 2020
A Separate Peace | ★★★★ | Online | May 2020
The Understudy | ★★★★ | Online | May 2020
Godspell Online in Concert | ★★★★★ | Online | August 2020
Henry V | ★★★★ | The Maltings | August 2020

 

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