Review: THE GREAT GATSBY, Immersive LDN - March 2022

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Immersive Everywhere’s The Great Gatsby sees F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel about the futility of the American Dream adapted by Alexander Wright into an intoxicating immersive adventure in the heart of Mayfair.

The audience of this production are guests at one of Jay Gatsby’s famous parties, bearing witness to various anguished and unhappy relationships unfolding against the backdrop of the glamorous trappings of the Jazz Age.

This production is a masterclass in stage and venue management, and the extensive creative team richly deserve their own round of applause for holding together this tightly coordinated production.

The cast go out of their way to ensure the audience remain engaged – remaining in character throughout the interval and identifying audience members with visibly drifting attention to draw them in with a task or a mission, or even an impromptu Charleston lesson.

I was personally called upon with a group of women dripping with fringes and pearls to be part of Jordan Baker’s ‘entourage’ and we had a blast being whisked from room to room, gossiping with the golf star and sowing seeds of chaos throughout Gatsby’s party. Jessica Hern is electric as Jordan. Just as though we were at a real party, I couldn’t help trying to navigate the crowd to pin her down and gossip about Nick Carraway (played with perfectly earnest awkwardness by Hugh Stubbins). Props to Hern for persevering with her scripted character as I tried to convince this obviously queer-coded character that she could do a lot better for herself…

The bar and venue staff also join in the fun, serving themed cocktails with varying degrees of commitment to the cod-New York accent. The bees knees cocktail is particularly delicious and a brilliant way to ease you into the hedonistic spirit of the 20s.

At times it feels as though the existential terror of Fitzgerald’s novel is sacrificed to the format of the show, with a cast of supporting characters who wouldn’t be out of place in a production of Bugsy Malone and smatterings of slapstick comedy. The opening scenes of the show are a little jarring, delivered in shouts across a room of chattering background conversation. But there is no denying the unadulterated fun of this production.

An uproarious evening of booze, jazz, gossip and heartbreak. 

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

The Great Gatsby is currently booking until 30 October, with tickets available here.