Last night I went to one of Jay Gatsby’s parties.
Men in wool waistcoats served up jars of moonshine; girls dripping in pearls draped themselves across the piano; flappers in green sequin dresses got the crowd on their feet in front of the jazz band; gold-painted empresses stood either side of an ice chandelier handing out gin on ice - and then the police came and shut the party down.
It was 1922, when prohibition was in full force and the American dream was within grasp; illegal parties were thrown in speakeasies all over the country and dancing the Charleston was an Olympic skill. But no, it wasn’t – we were in the east end of London, ninety years after The Great Gatsby was set, and this was the launch of the production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic at Wilton’s Music Hall.
The play, directed by Peter Joucla, mixes cabaret with Prohibition America. A full evening’s entertainment, F. Scott Fitzgerald would feel utterly at home in the world’s oldest music hall. Built in 1858 and semi-derelict, Wilton’s acts as the perfect host for one of Jay Gatsby’s legendary parties – full of nooks and crannies, the grandiose auditorium is Miss Havisham chic.
Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is set on America's east coast in the palatial mansions of Long Island and the newly built grand hotels of New York City. Protagonist Nick is a new resident of West Egg, and is soon invited to the home of his next-door neighbour, a Mr J. Gatsby, for one of his renowned outdoor parties. Nick's family connection to the nearby-dwelling Buchanans intrigues Gatsby to strike up a friendship with him, and soon the group of twentysomething adults are caught up in a messy cobweb of affairs and lost love to a backdrop of sweltering heat and airless rooms. Their gallavanting is short-lived when a spontaneous caper goes drastically wrong, and events spiral tragically out of control. The final pages of the short novel are some of the finest to ever be written.
The cast of eight plays all the characters in the production as well as singing in the barbershop-style chorus, intercepting scene changes as effectively and humorously as Willy Wonka’s Oompa Loompas forecasting the next child’s sticky end. Michael Malarkey is excellent as the smooth-talking Gatsby himself – cool and composed in his pressed linen suit despite burning with unrequited love for Daisy Buchanan (played by Kirsty Besterman).
The climatic car scene which ends in Myrtle’s death is prop-free but suitably atmospheric, with the chorus’s eerie tones and headlamp-like stage lighting. Vicki Campbell as Jordan Baker brings freshness to the stage as the most down-to-earth character, and Nick (Nick Chambers) is superb as the ernest, omnipotent Nick, who watches these people’s lives unravel around him yet remains unscathed.
Evoking all the glamour and atmosphere of the roaring twenties, Wilton’s brings Gatsby to glorious, all-singing, all-dancing life (jazz hands optional). A must-see.
The Great Gatsby is at Wilton's Music Hall until 19 May. The play is published by Oberon.