Gatz Review: An Eight-and-a-Half-Hour Immersive Theatrical Triumph
Elevator Repair Service's monumental production Gatz transforms F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel The Great Gatsby into an extraordinary eight-and-a-half-hour theatrical experience. Currently captivating audiences at Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide as part of the Adelaide Festival, this unique performance defies conventional adaptation by presenting the entire novel read aloud on stage.
Office Setting Meets Literary Classic
The production begins with a simple premise: a man arrives at his drab office to find his computer malfunctioning. After futile attempts to restart the machine, he discovers a copy of Fitzgerald's novel and begins reading aloud. As his colleagues enter the workspace, they gradually assume the roles of the novel's characters, creating a seamless blend of mundane office reality and the glittering, tragic world of Jay Gatsby and the Buchanans.
This innovative approach from the New York theatre company represents more than mere adaptation. Director John Collins and his ensemble explore what happens when a complete literary work is performed verbatim, creating something that exists between dramatic interpretation and faithful recitation. The result is both strangely familiar and utterly original.
Masterful Performances and Narrative Innovation
Scott Shepherd delivers a staggering performance as narrator Nick Carraway, whose vocal cadences and precise delivery transform Fitzgerald's prose into something both musical and devastatingly accurate. Shepherd captures Carraway's complex duality—simultaneously compassionate observer and morally tormented participant—creating what might be considered the definitive interpretation of this iconic literary guide.
The supporting cast makes equally memorable contributions:
- Jim Fletcher presents a fascinatingly against-type Gatsby—bald and in his sixties rather than the novel's young, impossibly handsome millionaire
- Lucy Taylor embodies Daisy Buchanan's brittle fragility with heartbreaking precision
- Frank Boyd and Laurena Allan excel as the tragically manipulated George and Myrtle Wilson
- Susie Sokol brings hilarious drollness to professional golfer Jordan Baker
Production Design and Thematic Exploration
Louisa Thompson's set design creates an oddly anachronistic office environment filled with typewriters and fake wood paneling, suggesting a retrograde era that complements Fitzgerald's themes of elusive futures and receding dreams. Colleen Werthmann's costumes deliberately undercut the novel's ultra-wealthy milieu with low-rent aesthetics, emphasizing the production's interest in challenging rather than simply illustrating the text.
The production constantly subverts its own established rules. Actors toggle between office personas and literary characters, while a sound technician occasionally steps into the action, and a googly-eyed puppet briefly represents a child. These deliberate disruptions prevent audience complacency and maintain a sense of theatrical discovery throughout the marathon performance.
Universal Relevance and Cultural Commentary
While The Great Gatsby holds particular significance in American culture as an exploration of national character, Gatz makes a compelling case for the novel's universal relevance. The production highlights how Fitzgerald's "careless people"—those who smash things and retreat into their wealth—have only grown more venal and powerful in contemporary society.
Nick Carraway's vigilant humanism and poetic sensibility emerge as not merely nostalgic reflections on a lost age but as potential benedictions for our collective future. The production manages the remarkable feat of being simultaneously deferential to Fitzgerald's text and thrillingly subversive in its theatrical execution.
Gatz represents a unique achievement in contemporary theatre—an immersive experience that demands complete attention but rewards audiences with profound literary engagement and theatrical innovation. The production continues at Her Majesty's Theatre until March 15th as a highlight of the Adelaide Festival programming.
