Ruby In the Dust

Ruby in the Dust Theatre presents

THE LAST TYCOON
by F Scott Fitzgerald
Adapted by Simon Levy


"A fine and charming piece of theatre"
Londontheatre1.com

"A slick and powerful production that makes a strong case for re-evaluating Fitzgerald’s final book."
Remote Goat

THE TABARD THEATRE

4 October - 22 October 
Tuesday - Saturday @ 7:30pm
Tickets £17/£15

Box Office: 020 8995 6035

www.tabardtheatre.co.uk

info@tabardtheatre.co.uk

2 Bath Road, LondonW4 1LW

Direct from a limited run in the West End, F Scott Fitzgerald's final novel is adapted for the Tabard stage depicting the heady days of the 1930's glamorous Hollywood scene.

It’s the golden age of Hollywood and Monroe Stahr is obsessed with his latest movie project. Pat Brady knows it will lose money so is just as determined to kill the project.

Ruby In The Dust are returning to the Tabard Theatre this October with their take on F Scott Fitzgerald’s final work; The Last Tycoon: the story of a movie producer slowly working his way to death in a world darkened by the Depression and the rising passion of the screen-writers’ unions.

“He has the power to make anyone’s dreams come true… except his own.”

When an earthquake nearly destroys the studio, an enigmatic and mysterious Englishwoman steps out of the wreckage.

Is she the one to save Stahr? Or will his latest obsession finally destroy him?

As in Fitzgerald’s seminal work, The Great Gatsby, the central character is something of a tragic figure. Monroe Stahr, the “Boy Wonder”, is a man obsessed: with movies, with illusion, with the memory of his dead wife and with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The story follows Stahr's rise to power in Hollywood, and his conflicts with rival Pat Brady (based on prominent studio head Louis B. Mayer) – a man desperate to kill Monroe’s dreams… particularly his dream of making his “Shakespeare Picture”.  A timely reminder, particularly in the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, that art should be there to give people hope, and that profits aren’t the be-all and end-all.

Ironically, F Scott Fitzgerald died before he completed his masterly study of Hollywood in its heyday, born out of his own frustrations with the way writers were treated – including himself. It is his final, poignant farewell to the Great American Dream – a bittersweet love affair set in a never-never land: 1930s – The Golden Age of Hollywood.

With music from the period and a mixture of period and original film footage, this tale evokes the nostalgia of a lost age and lost dreams. A journey into the literal and metaphorical heart of a great man. The tragedy of a man obsessed…

This tale evokes the nostalgia of a lost age and lost dreams with a journey into the literal and metaphorical heart of a great man.

For anyone who is a fan of the movies and of Fitzgerald’s work,this is an evening of theatre not to be missed.

Backstage West Drama-Logue

The Last Tycoon plays well to Hollywood glamour

The Los Angeles Times

Praise for GATSBY:

“…Evokes the decadent rush of the jazz era and its seedy underbelly…”

TIME OUT – SHOW OF THE WEEK

“…revels delectably in the period glitz… deftly harnesses the yearning beat of jazz that echoes so perfectly the novel’s strains of heartbreak and disenchantment…”

METRO

“…Oozing class… this musical adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel grips throughout…”

THE TELEGRAPH