The Great Gatsby at Theatre Severn
Taking a trip back to the decadence of America’s Jazz Age sounds the perfect way to spend a cold January evening.
Scott Fitzgerald’s well-loved novel The Great Gatsby will be brought to life at Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn on Thursday and Friday at 7.30pm and on Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Despite having a degree in English Literature, I am ashamed to say I don’t think I’ve read The Great Gatsby….and, having read the summary for the theatre production, I can’t understand why it has escaped me as it sounds exactly the sort of thing I would love. It’s now at the top of my reading list.
Produced by Blackeyed Theatre in association with South Hill Park Arts Centre and Eastbourne Theatre, the show will recreate the sights, sounds and feel of America’s Roaring Twenties, as seen through the eyes of Nick Carraway.
A spectacular evening is certainly on the cards as the cast double as a seven-piece jazz band. Between them, they play piano, drums, saxophone, clarinet, banjo, cello and guitar as well as singing. Music from the Jazz Age will be a large part of the production and will certainly add to the flavour of the 1920s era. It was Fitzgerald himself who coined the term The Jazz Age to describe a decade of great social change when the pursuit of the American Dream became synonymous with the pursuit of wealth.
Forget the stuffiness of the 1920s Downton Abbey drawing room, this will be a lavish, stylish production with all the glamour and glitter of the Jazz Age.
Tickets are still available for performances but be quick as they are selling fast. For more information, see http://www.theatresevern.co.uk/shows/drama/the-great-gatsby/ or call the box office on 01743 281281.