PREVIEW
The Great Gatsby
Dec. 5 to Dec. 15
Walterdale Theatre
10322 – 83 Ave.
Tickets: $18 to $20. Call 780-4291757 or at www.tixonthesquare.ca
There’s a cascade of good stories in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby – a doomed love, unhinged marriages, unquenched lust, violence and the general disillusionment of life.
It made for some interesting moviemaking and now Walterdale Theatre is tackling Fitzgerald’s world of Jazz Age hedonism with gusto. The Great Gatsby opens tonight and runs until Dec. 15.
Fitzgerald’s cautionary tale takes place in the early 1920s during the Prohibition Era when upper-class money flowed as freely as bootleg bubbly.
This glamorous bubble, with its seemingly never-ending wealth, took place just a few years before the catastrophic Wall Street plunge that sent the economy into a tailspin.
Narrator Nick Carraway, an aspiring writer, spins the tale of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby, and his unattainable love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan.
The Great Gatsby displays the opulent parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times wrote, “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession.” It explores a level of class where the power of money becomes an aphrodisiac and social gamesmanship a way of life.
Bethany Hughes (Next to Normal/Red), Walterdale’s artistic director, has always been fascinated with the Fitzgerald classic and tapped herself to direct it.
“As a teenager, I saw a love story about a man smitten with a woman who would sacrifice everything for her. As an adult, it’s become the idea of living an authentic life. Jay is trying to fit in and he builds this great facade of the Great Gatsby. But it isn’t real,” said Hughes.
In this world of exclusivity, characters lose their identity and are forced to face an empty existence.
“At some point, the characters express the sincerity that we as human beings need to make a connection. Each character goes through a trial where they have to express a genuine truth.”
With a strong background in dance, Hughes incorporates a fluidity to the piece that includes a Roaring ’20s Charleston dance number.
Veronica Masik, a former member of Bellerose Composite High’s cheer team and a St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumna, is a valued member of the dance ensemble. To include a “wow” factor, she researched the dance moves and tricky lifts.
One of ensemble’s thorny challenges was learning to dance in slow motion in opposition to fast-paced action happening up front.
“There’s a lot of drama going on between characters at the back. A guy gets drunk. There’s a jealous couple, and a woman looking for a husband.”
Actors were also tasked with learning ’20s slang – words such as gams, cat’s meow, bees knees and giggle water.
“It’s not as difficult to add in slang as it is to edit modern-day slang,” she laughed.
To get the jazz era swinging, the costumed cast will mingle with patrons in the lobby at a planned pre-party. Dress-up is encouraged.
