Tag Archives: The Great Gatsby

THE GREAT GATSBY

★★★

Cockpit Theatre

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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

THE GREAT GATSBY

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

 

THE GREAT GATSBY

★★★

Theatre Royal Windsor

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THE GREAT GATSBY at the Theatre Royal Windsor

★★★

“Fans of F Scott Fitzgerald and afficionados of ‘The Great Gatsby’ will not be disappointed”

‘On Air’ productions have become a popular staple of Theatre Royal, Windsor over the past few years, with their adaptations of classics read in an authentic studio setting, The style is that of a vintage radio drama, complete with live sound effects, replicating the medium that reached its height in the 1930s and 1940s. The atmosphere is authentically recreated for the latest production of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, “The Great Gatsby”, even if we are a bit unsure of which decade of the twentieth century we are entering. The (uncredited) set design is a gorgeous period concoction, more H G Wells than the Jazz Age, onto which the cast assemble as though stumbling out of one of Jay Gatsby’s all-nighters on Long Island.

Foley Artist (Martin Carroll) urges the ensemble to take their positions at the microphones while the Greenwich Time Signal counts down with its pips and the ‘On Air’ sign flickers. There is little, if any, preamble except for a few bars of Sophie Burke’s ragtime soundtrack at the piano. It is a shame as a hint of the dynamics between the cast and crew ‘off air’ would have lifted the show from its resemblance to a rehearsed reading, albeit a faithful and accomplished retelling of the story. Roy Marsden’s staging coasts in a no man’s land where not enough visual concessions are made for a theatre audience.

We all know the story, narrated from the point of view of Nick Carraway – Gatsby’s neighbour during the summer of 1922 – told in the first person. George Banks takes on the mantle to steer us through the narrative. A calm and articulate presence, Banks shifts from the role of narrator to that of his character within the action but makes no alteration in his delivery between the two. With the exception of Carley Stenson’s rich voiced Daisy Buchanan and Charlie Clements’ imposing Tom Buchanan, the rest of the cast double up. Eva O’Hara is a delightfully tipsy, party-loving Lucille but slightly flat as cheating, celebrity golfer Jordan Baker. Holly Smith successfully conveys Myrtle Wilson’s frustrated social status with her musical Bronx twang, cutting to a crisp RP for her minor cameos. Forgive me for any discrepancies as the programme credits don’t necessarily match what is unfolding onstage.

Barnaby Tobias, in the ‘great’ eponymous role appears to be a late replacement, but he has the strongest grasp of characterisation, peeling away the often-misplaced enigma that is Gatsby, to reveal the fast-talking, jittery awkwardness of a man out of his depth. Doubling as garage owner George Wilson he matches Smith’s ability to switch dialect on a dime.

Much of the playing space is given over to the collection of devices at Carroll’s disposal for the live soundscape. Like the overall theatrical concept, it is underused, and like the overall production, tricks have been missed and temptations for innovation have been resisted. We are left with the nagging question of the purpose of the exercise, especially with a story so iconic and recognised. It does, however, work well as a nostalgia piece but even then, it spurns the opportunity for experimentation that the breakthrough in radio drama originally offered nearly a century ago. There is a laziness that runs through, underlined by the dayglo highlighted markings incongruously splashed on the actors’ scripts. Weakening the sense of period it also heightens the feeling that we are guests at a reading.

Fans of F Scott Fitzgerald and afficionados of ‘The Great Gatsby’ will not be disappointed. Marsden’s adaptation is lovingly faithful to the book, but on the page only, which is where it remains in this interpretation, not quite making the journey to the stage in the style Jay Gatsby would have liked to arrive in.

 


THE GREAT GATSBY at the Theatre Royal Windsor

Reviewed on 12th February 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Simon Vail

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

ALONE TOGETHER | ★★★★ | August 2023
BLOOD BROTHERS | ★★★★★ | January 2022
THE CHERRY ORCHARD | ★★★★ | October 2021

THE GREAT GATSBY

THE GREAT GATSBY

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