Adapted works are met increasingly often in this post-modern climate, where text of all kinds is up for deconstruction and reconstruction, often one version being a shrewd comment on the other.

The leap from page to stage is never more fraught than when it crosses from ‘tell me’ to ‘show me’ territory, especially when the tale in question has become the byword for a period – F Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz age in this case. It is a brave soul who makes the leap where most, apart from the 1974 film with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, have not lingered in the halls of fame.

The work for stage must, of course, be viewed in its own right and the play experienced as if we had never heard of Daisy and Jay or their trashy ways. Certainly a production of Ken Duncum’s adaptation demands a rational approach so that we are never in danger of falling under the hypnotic spell of the hedonistic world of the novel.

Under Ross Gumbley’s enterprising direction, much is achieved, especially in the second half as the plot line is established more securely.

Set in the 1920s, it opens stunningly as Nick Carraway, our narrator, enters through the shuttered up window of Gatsby’s deserted mansion on Long Island, to draw from the shadows the memory ghosts of lives that were lived there.

He explains how, through family connections, he meets up not only with his ‘old moneyed’ cousin Daisy, but also with her blustering husband Tom and her friend Jordan. In contrast to their materialistic and pleasure driven existence, the world of Tom’s mistress Myrtle and her garage mechanic husband in the scungy ‘valley of ashes’ is also encountered.

But it is the relationship with his mysterious neighbour, ‘new money’ Gatsby, that sets the real story alight. For Gatsby met up with Daisy long ago, without the means at that stage to marry her, and now their romance sets in train events which bring dreams to a tragic end, and a sense of futility and impotence where hope and ambition had flourished.

The choice of Brechtian staging with the ensemble permanently in view, supplying sound and props, changing scenes and roles, providing effects such as a jostling crowd, is always interesting but the very energy, bustle and sense of purpose thus generated does sometimes prevent scenes from settling and is often at odds with the densely poetic language of the narrator. Perhaps the use of captions or projected titles was considered and rejected but it might have provided a sharper medium for lining up time and place, leaving comment and insight to the spoken words.

It is not intended of course that we should engage emotionally with characters in this see-through world, but Michael Hallows as Gatsby does convey something of the ultimate vulnerability of wanting. Similarly, Sandra Rasmussen as a hard-life Myrtle and Tim Bartlett playing her desperate husband Wilson, do crack the shell of alienation and give us a human face.

Clare Dougan handles the difficult role of Daisy with aplomb and is nicely contrasted with a stylish ‘decisive’ Jordan, played by Amy Straker. Phil Brown as Nick, Jon Pheloung as Tom, and Jennie Gough, an important musician on the side, complete a strong ensemble which drives the play along.

In production values the play is very strong. Tony Geddes delivers an appropriately crumbling shell of the mansion world and Elizabeth Whiting’s costumes are a triumph of versatility without losing their impact as emblems of wealthy materialism. Together with Luke Di Somma’s musical composition, they bring a fresh face to an interesting production.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer