Alternative Media Group

THEATRE: GATZ

Author:

Amelia G

Posted:

Monday, 18 May 2009

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In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

He didn’t say any more, but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores.

The opening lines of The Great Gatsby establish Nick Carraway as a man of reserved judgement, and as we soon learn it’s a trait that makes for a perfect observational narrator.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 classic is a good story, but the best part about the novel is the narrator’s witty, private observations of the people around him, none of whom are admirable. Director John Collins (of the New York theater ensemble Elevator Repair Service) became aware of this fact early on in adapting the prose for stage, and he decided to make his production a verbatim reading of the novel.

As such, Gatz is a staging of an encounter with the book, rather than a retelling of the story. The reading of the novel’s every word takes place in a daggy modern day office space, and while the gulf between the humourless workers and Fitzgerald’s eccentric denizens of high society New York is initially comically blatant, over time their worlds are bridged.

The nine-to-five-ers are transported from their cramped, beat up workplace to that glittering era of Jazz Age Manhattan and Long Island, but they don’t quite transport the audience with them. Running for the best part of seven hours, Gatz is in need of a little something more to sustain our engagement. 

The narrator is embodied wonderfully by Scott Shepherd, who knows the entire novel by heart and has a smooth, compelling reading voice that is a privilege to listen to. Jim Fletcher also gives a memorable performance as the awkward and gentlemanly Gatsby, but the character Daisy Buchanan’s mystery, fragility and utter detachment are disappointingly absent in Lucy Taylor’s performance. My advice is read the book and stage it in your own imagination.

Until May 31. Sydney Opera House. $50-72, 9250 7777 or sydneyoperahouse.com

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