The Great Gatsby

Devonshire Park Theatre, Compton Street, Eastbourne, Tuesday, September 8, to Saturday, September 12

F SCOTT FITZGERALD’S masterwork is one of the candidates for the much-vaunted Great American Novel.

And now Blackeyed Theatre is bringing an all-new adaptation of the tragedy set in the US jazz age party scene to the stage – mixing live music, an Art Deco inspired set and 1920s look.

The adaptation has been created by Stephen Sharkey, and the process took him back to his very first script – a version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

“Fitzgerald's novel is a masterpiece of storytelling and written in such cool, elegant prose,” he says.

“It sparkles and seduces like the champagne in bowls at Gatsby's parties. For me as a playwright, the opportunity to immerse myself in a work of this quality and try to realise it for the stage was far too good to miss.

“Funnily enough, the experience of adapting Gatsby took me back to The Picture of Dorian Gray, all those years ago. The stories have themes in common: class and morality, appearance and reality, time and mortality. But they also feature absolutely priceless dialogue, begging to be spoken aloud.”

One of the big challenges both for Sharkey and director Eliot Giuralarocca was incorporating the musical element into the story, a feature of Blackeyed Theatre’s work.

“This was a brilliant instinct,” says Sharkey. “The music and songs help enormously in evoking the atmosphere, the world of the novel, and they also helped me in composing a structural rhythm for the script.”

“We’ve set the play firmly in the summer of 1923,” adds Giuralarocca.

“It’s reflected in Jenny Little’s gorgeous costumes and chosen music that would have been current or contemporaneous to the period, lovingly arranged for the production by musical director Ellie Verkerk.

“The whole creative team has approached this production from the beginning with what I hope is a marriage of imagination and integrity in order to bring Gatsby and the America of the 1920s roaring into life. I very much hope that fans of the novel will be pleased with what we’ve done and those that have never read it will want to after seeing the show!”

Sharkey believes the themes of Fitzgerald’s original novel are still very pertinent today.

“The tycoon, and tales of his fortunes and misfortunes, is a constant in human history and in fiction, from Aladdin to Abramovitch, Trimalchio to Gatsby, King Midas to Bill Gates,” he says.

“The vast majority of us only ever know these people through myth, and we are fascinated by them.

“Fitzgerald was drawn to them, certainly, but his genius was to crystallise and dramatise the tragedy of one such mythical tycoon and make his a story for all time.”

Starts 7.45pm, 2.30pm matinees Wed and Sat, tickets from £15.50. Call 01323 412000.