★★★
Gender and sexuality have always pulsed beneath the surface of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Something about the Roaring Twenties setting, synonymous with speakeasies, flapper girls and cigarette smoke in a post-war world where traditional gender roles were being questioned made it a prime backdrop for the Modernist novelists of the era. Queer undertones are ever-present too, most notably when protagonist Nick winds up in a stranger’s bedroom in a drunken stupor, or in Nick’s burgeoning obsession with Gatsby. You can see why it might be ripe for a gender-twisted retelling.
In Scar Theatre’s new adaptation, running at The Cockpit in Marylebone this December, the eponymous Jay Gatsby is a woman. It’s an intriguing concept worth exploring, since the source material’s portrayal of women has always felt fairly sympathetic, and critical of the 20s era. The oft-quoted line, “That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” has become so memorable because it’s a lament, the “this world” part steeped in despair because it could refer to a plethora of things: the planet, the era, the society of soirées these characters exist in. It suggests a suffocation, with no escape. In this adaptation, certain elements of the script take on a new form—when Nick first meets Gatsby and mistakes her for just another party guest, the scene’s meaning shifts: has he assumed this isn’t Gatsby because he’s a fish out of water, or because of the stigmas of the era? Daisy’s line about women and fools is transformed too, since the mere existence of a female Gatsby suggests some attempt to get away from this categorisation, though given how Gatsby ultimately ends up, it’s a sobering thought that maybe truly escaping stigma isn’t something that can ever be achieved. This female Gatsby always feels less powerful and self-assured, like there’s an extra fragility owed to the baggage of misogyny, and it’s effectively done.
Reading the novel as an outright feminist text would be a step too far, so it’s interesting to see this theatre group at least lean into that perspective. The relationship between the female Gatsby and Daisy is skilfully handled; the two actors have good chemistry and the dynamic between them feels wholly believable. The theatre-in-the-round setting is used effectively throughout too, allowing for a great use of spacing in the first encounter that amplifies the tension, but also for some of the 20s-style dance sequences. The stage design suits the venue too, with that famous art-deco style printed on the floor as a labyrinthine series of squares and hexagons, mirroring the design of the era whilst giving the impression the characters are trapped in a maze of some sort. The way the players are made to navigate around this design feels fitting.
The young cast work well together and despite some wobbles in those American accents and an occasional dip into melodrama, it feels like these are kinks that should be refined as the play’s run progresses. Everyone shows a lot of promise, though special praise should go to Emily Serdahl as Jay. The play’s success is almost completely dependent on this central performance, which could easily go either way, and she meets the brief.
Queer retellings of classic texts have become a genre of their own, sometimes revelatory, sometimes self-congratulatory. This Gatsby doesn’t quite know which it wants to be, and you can’t help but yearn for it to go deeper. Yes, misogyny is bad. Yes, queer people existed in the 1920s. But what does this adaptation add to that conversation?
As queer retellings of classic texts go, this is a unique spin and intriguingly original, and while it doesn’t quite reach the heights it needs to in terms of execution, there’s a lot of potential here. You can look forward to seeing where this theatre group goes next.
The Great Gatsby will be performed at The Cockpit Theatre until 14 December.
Words by James Morton
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.