The Great Gatsby
Have you met Gatsby? I heard he’s a bootlegger! Or a spy! Or a cousin to Kaiser Wilhelm and second cousin to the devil! …I heard he killed a man…
Adapted from the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby follows the life of Midwesterner Nick Carraway during his raucous New York summer in 1922 and how his interactions with his neighbour, the mysterious millionaire known as Jay Gatsby, changes his life forever.
The Era
New York City, 1922. The war is over, and the wild hedonism of America’s Jazz Age is in full swing. Times are changing, and not everyone is happy about it. Those who inherit their money are coming into conflict with those who make it. Women have the vote, prohibition is in its third year, and the gangsters and bootleggers smuggling it mingle with the rich and powerful at their lavish parties on Long Island. Sex, drugs, and jazz are the order of the day, and anything can happen in the land of opportunity.
The Author
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 to a middle-class family in Minnesota. When his courtship with Chicago’s Ginevra King was stopped by her elite family, he enlisted in the First World War, hoping to die. After meeting his wife Zelda, his first novel debuted in 1920, and they joined New York’s elite. Despite emulating their lifestyle, he resented the rich, and the couple’s alcoholism and mental illnesses led to major marital issues. Gatsby’s failure in 1925 devastated him, and he died of a heart attack at 44.
Director’s Notes
The Death of the Author is a literary theory arguing that once a work is published, it takes on a life of its own, and its meaning is determined by the reader instead of the author. It is with that spirit that I created this adaptation. With so many previous adaptations of Gatsby already out there, I wanted to do something that had never been done before, and while this version may not be what Fitzgerald had originally intended, I believe this alternate interpretation can enhance many of the themes in the original text. I would like to give special thanks to John, Cathy, Tom, and Breanne Maines, Melanie and Jason Wilson, and the Red River College for helping make this production possible.
From the Grapevine
- The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925 and entered the public domain in 2021, allowing unofficial derivative works and adaptations such as this one to exist
- F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after Francis Scott Key, a distant relative who wrote the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner
- The first film adaptation of The Great Gatsby debuted in 1926. Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda loathed the film and left the cinema halfway through. No copies of the film are known to exist and it is considered a piece of lost media.
- Fitzgerald popularized the term Jazz Age in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age
- Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda video-game series was named after Zelda Fitzgerald
- During the First World War, Fitzgerald served under Captain Dwight Eisenhower (who would later go on to become President of the United States from 1953-1961) and strongly disliked him
- The Great Gatsby was a commercial failure upon its debut, selling fewer than 20,000 copies, but grew massively in popularity when 155,000 copies were chosen to be delivered to soldiers fighting in the Second World War. As of July 2024 it has sold over 30 million copies
- When Zelda gave birth to their first and only daughter, Fitzgerald recorded his wife saying “I hope it’s beautiful and a fool. A beautiful little fool” as she was emerging from anaesthesia
- While living in Long Island, Fitzgerald’s neighbour, Max Gerlach, fought in the First World War, lived a luxurious life as a millionaire bootlegger, thre lavish parties, never wore the same shirt twice, fostered many myuths about himself (such as being related to Kaiser WIihelm), and used the phrase old sport
- Zelda believed her husband was having an affair with Ernest Hemingway, and would call Fitzgerald homophobic slurs in public
- Fitzgerald used to go to parties after college in drag, and once hired a prostitute to prove that he was straight
- On his death, Fitzgerald believed that that his life was a failure and his works were forgotten. Today, Fitzgerald is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, with The Great Gatsby being one of the greatest novels ever written.
Gatsby’s Playlist
Pre-Show
- Juice – Postmodern Jukebox
- Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked – Postmodern Jukebox
- Poison – Postmodern Jukebox
- Wiggle – Postmodern Jukebox
- Call Me Maybe – Postmodern Jukebox
- Chasing Pavement – Postmodern Jukebox
- Bad Blood – Postmodern Jukebox
- Gangsta’s Paradise – Postmodern Jukebox
- New Rules – Postmodern Jukebox
- Don’t You Worry Child – Postmodern Jukebox
- Talk Dirty – Postmodern Jukebox
- Sugar, We’re Going Down – Postmodern Jukebox
During the Performance
Curtain Call
- I’m Not The Only One – Postmodern Jukebox
Land Acknowledgement
The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is proud to call Manitoba home. The Winnipeg Fringe is located in Winnipeg on Treaty 1, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Anishininew, and Dakota people, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. We are thankful for the benefits sharing this land has afforded us, acknowledge the responsibilities of the Treaties, and embrace the opportunity to partner with Indigenous communities in the spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.
