Gatz takes over Brisbane Powerhouse from 8 – 10 May 2009
Remember Cloudstreet? It was the last epic play I saw in Brisbane, running for 5 hours and holding my attention, breathless, for every minute of that time.
Sometimes I find myself reviewing shows and saying they’re too long or too slow. This isn’t because I can’t sit still for a couple of hours, it’s because the play doesn’t warrant the length it takes. It dips and trudges in places where it should soar and I start fidgeting and looking at my watch. But Cloudstreet … that was 5 hours of bliss and I’d relive it again in a second.
That’s why I’m excited to hear that Gatz – a 6-hour show (7.5-hours if you count intervals) – is heading to Brisbane. And when I hear that it’s combining my two great passions – literature and theatre – I can barely contain myself. My reason for being so excited is that you can’t justify putting on a play of this length unless it’s something special, unless every minute of it works for an audience. And this one’s been tried and tested overseas and received rave reviews.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is one of literature’s classics and Gatz isn’t so much an adaptation of it as a literal, line-by-line reading of the entire book. But it’s also much more than that. Elevator Repair Service is a New York theatre company and the premise of their production is as follows:
‘One morning in the low-rent office of a mysterious small business, one employee finds a ragged old copy of The Great Gatsby in the clutter of his desk and starts to read it out loud. And doesn't stop. At first his co-workers hardly seem to notice, but then weird coincidences start happening in the office, one after another, until it's no longer clear whether he's reading the book or the book is doing something to him…’
With a cast of 13, Gatz is performed over seven and a half hours, including three intervals totalling 90 minutes. According to the reviews, audiences around the world have been held enthralled and eager to retake their seats after intermission to hear more of the well-known tale. If you’re like me and you find you can’t put down a good book and have to forego sleep when it gets exciting, you’ll appreciate the hold the book takes over the office workers in Gatz.
Gatz takes over Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre from Friday 8 – Sunday 10 May, 2009.
I’m also happy to hear that dinner packages are available for the show - Watt $42, Bar Alto $42, Dinner Box $27. With that sort of length of playing time, audiences will need sustenance. You can contact the Powerhouse box office on 3385 8600 for more details of the dinner packages or to book.
By Katherine Lyall-Watson
What do you think of long plays? Love them or loathe them? We’d love to hear your comments.
