The Great Gatsby

CELESTE COLLIER
| MYRTLE CHASE

Celeste is from London and trained at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.

Theatre credits include: One Man, Two Guvnors (Devonshire Park Theatre); Rishi Sunak’s Doing a Musical! (Waterloo East Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Roman Theatre of Verulamium); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Roman Theatre of Verulamium); The Importance of Being Earnest (Roman Theatre of Verulamium); Cinderella Rocks! (The Garage); The Hollow (Stoke Rep Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Temperance Hall); Sleeping Beauty (Key Theatre); The Cane (Bush Theatre); The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Syzygy Theatre); Jack and the Beansprout (The Garage).

Film/Television/Radio Credits include: The Pharmacy (The Science Museum); The Starfish Story, Lifting Cares Away (The Family Holiday Association); Online Leadership (MBTI).

TYLER COLLINS
| TOM BUCHANAN

Tyler was raised in Anchorage, Alaska and trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Theatre Credits include: BBC CBeebies: Twelfth Night and As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe); Scots and Party of the Century (A Play, A Pie and A Pint); The Broons (Sell-A-Door); Little Red and The Wolf (Dundee Rep); Sunshine on Leith (Leeds Playhouse); Last Dream (On Earth) (National Theatre of Scotland).

Film/Television Credits include: Swashbuckle (BBC CBeebies) and CBeebies Presents shows – The Night Before Christmas,
Dick Whittington and his Cat, Robin Hood, Beauty and the Beast (BBC CBeebies); Where Do We Go From Here? (Worrying Drake); Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps (Paper Canoe Studio).

Voice overs/Video Games: Lego; Claritin; Ooni, Shiseido; Ford; Adidas; OKX; Thomas Mason; Ridley Jones (Netflix); Warhammer; Children in Need, The Princess Bride (BBC Radio); Star Trucker (Monster and Moster); Hunter Call of the Wild (New England Mountains); Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games); Settlers (New Allies); and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Rabbit & Bear Studios). 

APRIL NERISSA HUDSON
| JORDAN BAKER

April is from Wolverhampton.

Theatre Credits include: Good For A Girl (Birmingham Rep); A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood & The Major Oak, The Wind in the Willows, Home Girl, Treasure Island and The Little Mermaid (Derby Theatre); WILD (Black Country Touring); WANTED! (Gazebo Theatre); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Front Room Productions); Freeman (Strictly Arts Theatre Company); Dear Josephine (Rose Dunne); Nobody (Theatre UNCUT).

Film/Television/Radio Credits include: Doctors, Man Like Mobeen, Cake (BBC); Remember That? (Aella Jordan-Edge/BAFTA qualifying Carmarthen Bay Film Festival & BIFA qualifying littlewing  Film Festival).

LEAH JAMIESON
| CATHERINE

Leah trained at Rose Bruford College on the Actor Musicianship course where she was a recipient of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation scholarship.

Theatre Credits include: Fib (Research & Development, Kimbo Theatre); Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) (Toronto Mirvish Theatres); Romeo and Juliet, Spring Awakening, Market Boy, Macbeth (Plough on Sunday); Tonight at 8:30 (Theatre 54); The Crucible (troublehouse theatre company); Medea (Muchmuchmore Theatre Company).

ORAINE JOHNSON 
| JAY GATSBY

Oraine studied at The Birmingham Theatre School, graduating with BA Hons in Acting.

Theatre Credits Include: The Jungle Book, Robin Hood, Welfare (Derby Theatre); One Man, Two Guvnors (Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Torch Theatre); Hallowed Turf (Eden Court Theatre); Sorry! No Coloureds, No Irish, No Dogs (Arena Theatre); Tin Violin (Minack Theatre); Of Men and Men (Lowry Theatre); The Wizard of Oz (The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham).

Film/Television Credits include: Domino Effect (Apple TV); Choice (Channel 4); Repercussions (Wandering Tiger); World Cup (Sony Entertainment Channel); Lynx Rally (MTV).

Other Credits include: Oraine performed at the O2 Indigo London, NEC and has produced for various artists. 

Composer Credits include: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Royal & Derngate Theatre); Wanted (National Tour); My Grandparents and I and The Making of a Monster (Wales Millennium Centre). 

Book Credits include: Lucid the Dreamwalker will be released on all major platforms in 2025.

JEROME LINCOLN 
| WOLFSHEIM JNR

Theatre Credits include: Standing at The Sky’s Edge (Gillian Lynne Theatre); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Alice in Wonderland (Liverpool Playhouse/Plymouth Theatre Royal); Sleeping Beauty (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Whistle Down The Wind (Watermill Theatre); For You I’d Wait (Turbine Theatre/Union Theatre)

Television Credits include: Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV).

LOUIS NEWMAN
| WILSON

Louis is a born and raised Bristolian actor and musician. He is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA in Musical Theatre.

Theatre Credits Include: Lapland (LaplandUK); Dick Whittington (West End in Schools); Merrily We Roll Along (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

DAVID RANKINE 
| NICK CARRAWAY

David studied at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

Theatre Credits include: The Fair Maid Of The West (Royal Shakespeare Company); Kidnapped (National Theatre of Scotland); To Save The Sea (Sleeping Warrior Theatre Company); A Journey With Nan Shepherd, Bill McLaren: Fighting The Enemy (Firebrand Theatre Company); The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Helen Milne Productions/Perth Theatre and The Roald Dahl Story Company); Rocket Post (Constellation Points); The Tale of Typhoid Mary, Do Not Press This Button, Mischief (A Play, A Pie and A Pint); The Secret Garden, Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed, Heritage, Blithe Spirit, The Crucible, Summer Holiday, Chicago, Quality Street (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); See You In Court (10 Feet Tall); Aladdin, Snow White (Eden Court Theatre); The Last Witch (Firebrand/Pitlochry Festival Theatre); The Last Bordello (Fire Exit); A Million Miles Away (Frozen Charlotte); Romeo and Juliet (Lodestar Theatre Company); Over The Rainbow: The Eva Cassidy Story (UK tour).

Film/Television Credits include: Dog Squad (CBeebies); Carry Me Home – A Ferry Tale (National Theatre of Scotland); Three
Billion Swipes (National Theatre of Scotland/ BBC Scotland).

FIONA WOOD 
| DAISY BUCHANAN

Theatre Credits include: Beauty and the Beast (R&H Productions); Dementia the Musical (Deepness Ltd); Keepin’ the Heid (A Play, A Pie and A Pint); Metamorphosis: Unplugged (Vanishing Point Theatre Company); Peter Pan and Wendy, The Crucible, Blonde Bombshells, Heritage, Chicago, Quality Street, Before the Party, The Last Witch (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Glory on Earth, The Winter’s Tale (The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh); The James Plays (National Theatre of Scotland); Gabriel’s Gig (Drake Music); The Steamie (Neil Laidlaw); Cannibal Women of Mars, Ya Beauty and the Beast, Flo White (Tron Theatre).

Film/Television Credits include: Dog Squad S3 (Hello Halo Kids); Only an Excuse (BBC Scotland); Sketchland (BBC); Hospital
24/7 (Sky); Scot Squad (BBC Comedy Unit); Rab C Nesbitt (Comedy Unit); Short Films Room 9 and Home
(Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
| WRITER

SARAH BRIGHAM 
| DIRECTOR

Sarah is the Artistic Director and Chief Executive at Derby Theatre. Sarah trained at Bretton Hall and worked first extensively as an actor for a variety of companies before pursuing her directing career. She has also worked at Dundee Rep as Associate Director, at The Berry and The Point, Eastleigh as Artistic Director and undertaken other directing work with such companies as York Theatre Royal, Lyric Hammersmith, Red Ladder, Theatre Pinklec, Croatia; Muz Theater Holland and Hiccup Theatre amongst others.

Derby Theatre Production Credits include: Of Mice and Men, Welfare, Pleasant Land, Jekyll and Hyde, Extra Time, One Man, Two Guvnors, What Fatima Did, Great Expectations, Look Back in Anger, Jinny, Brassed Off, Solace of the Road, A Christmas Carol, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Kes, The Odyssey.

Sarah has also developed a number of actor-musician family productions often with BSL integrated within them.  

Other Directing Credits include: Chicken Licken, Alice in Wonderland (2024),Three Billy Goats Gruff, Robin Hood and the Major Oak, Home Girl, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Treasure Island, The Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood, , Alice in Wonderland (2016), Jack, Cinderella, and Pinocchio, Hansel & Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Peter Pan and The Gingerbread Man.

ELIZABETH NEWMAN 
| ADAPTER

LAURA RYDER 
| ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Laura is a director and facilitator based in the East Midlands. Her work centres around collaborative making processes, movement, access, working with young people, and community participation projects. She has worked with Derby Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse, Hubbub Theatre Company, Omar Khan and Plus One. She was the recipient of a JMK Assistant Directors Bursary with Birmingham Rep in 2023.

Directing & Assistant Theatre Credits include: Dracula (Director – audio project – Derby Theatre); The Ugly Duckling (Director – Nottingham Playhouse); Welfare (Assistant Director – Derby Theatre); Little Red Riding Hood (JMK Assistant Director – Birmingham Rep and Tour); Garden In My Living Room (Tour: community setting and primary schools. B Team, Mansfield Palace); Of Mice and Men (Resident Director (Tour) – Birmingham Rep); Slow Violence (Tour – Lead Artist – B Team, commissioned by China Plate).

SHONAGH MURRAY
| MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Shonagh is a composer/writer and musical director based in Glasgow. She trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Recent Composer Credits include: Armour (A Play, A Pie and a Pint); Saturdays Doon the J.M. (Dundee Rep); The Great Elf Escape: LIVE (The Gaiety Theatre, Ayr); Burns: A Lost Legacy (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019, Fearless Players).

Musical Director Credits include: Oor Wullie (Noisemaker/Dundee Rep); Ceilidh (Noisemaker/Foresight Theatrical/Beth Williams/Barbra Whitman); The Snow Queen (The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh); Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World (Kick Ass Theatre Productions Ltd/Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 & deputy MD for UK Tour 2023); God Catcher (Prickly Pear Productions/Petrichor Productions, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023); A Mother’s Song (Macrobert Art Centre/KT Producing); Orphans (National Theatre of Scotland, as Associate Musical Director).

JEN MCGINLEY 
| SET & COSTUME DESIGNER

Jen is a performance designer from Glasgow. She trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and was awarded the Linbury Prize for Stage Design in 2015. Jen also specialises in digital technology for set design and has a MSc in 3D Design for Virtual Environments from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Design Credits include: Brief Encounter (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); The Palace of  Varieties (Derby Theatre); The Unlikely Friendship of Feather Boy and Tentacle Girl (Catherine Wheels/National Theatre of Scotland/Assembly Roxy), Antigone, Miss Julie (Perth Theatre); Gods of Salford, The Social, Cinderella (Not Too Tame); Moonset (Citizens Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Not Too Tame/Shakespeare North Playhouse/Northern Stage); Silkworm (Pearlfisher); The Enemy, Interference (National Theatre of Scotland); Snake in the Grass, Wings Around Dundee (Dundee Rep); Distance Remaining (Helen Milne Productions); Fibres (Stellar Quines/Citizens Theatre); Maim (Theatre Gu Leòr); I Can Go Anywhere (Traverse Theatre); If You’re Feeling Sinister (Avalon/BBC Arts/Tron); Under Milk Wood, A Song for Ella Grey (Northern Stage); The Hour We Knew Nothing of  Each Other (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh); Fat Blokes (Scottee/The Southbank Centre/HOME Manchester); Secret Life of Humans (New Diorama/59E59) and Who Cares (Lung Theatre/The Lowry).

EMMA JONES 
| LIGHTING DESIGNER

Emma is a Lighting Designer based in Scotland

Theatre, Dance and Opera Credits include: Radiant Vermin (Tron Theatre); AUGUST (National Dance Company Wales) History of Paper (Dundee Rep/Traverse); LUNA (Birmingham Royal Ballet); Tero Buru (Leah Mcaleer/Disaster Plan/National Theatre of Scotland); Sunset Song (Dundee Rep/Edinburgh Lyceum); float (Starcatchers); Pirates!, The Life and Times, Dreamers, YAMA, MIANN, Velvet Petal, Ray, Antigone, Interrupted, Tutumucky  (Scottish Dance Theatre); Futuristic Folktales, AND (Charlotte McLean and Collaborators); And The Birds Did Sing (Curious Seed);  Mother Goose, Aladdin, Jack and The Beanstalk, Cinderella (Perth Theatre); Through The Mud (Stella Quines/Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh); Totentanz, Ferguson and Barton (Shotput Theatre); Lament for Sheku Bayoh, Enough of Him (National Theatre of Scotland); Stornoway, Quebec (Theatre Galore); Fibres (Stellar Quines/Citizens Theatre); Lightning Ridge (Catherine Wheels Theatre Company); The Man in the Submarine (Perth Theatre/The Byre Theatre); LENA The Lena Zavaroni Story (Feather Productions); The Emperor’s New Clothes (Derby Theatre/Hiccup Theatre/Polka Theatre); Ode to Joy (stories untold); After All (Solene Weinachter); Plan B for Utopia, The North (Joan Cleville Dance); L’etoile (Royal Conservatoire Scotland); A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Alice in Wonderland (Derby Theatre); Misdummer, Talking Heads, The Little Mermaid (Dundee Rep); Equilux (Danza Contemporanea de Cuba); The View from Castle Rock (Stellar Quines); A Wee Journey (Farah Salah/Oguz Kamplangi); DYRA (SHHE)

In 2020, Emma became an associate artist with Shotput Theatre.

IVAN STOTT
| SOUND DESIGNER

Ivan has worked as a freelance composer, sound designer, and actor musician for theatre productions across the UK and internationally for over 35 years. He is the Artistic Director of Hiccup Theatre.

Music & Sound Design Credits include: A Christmas Carol, Chicken Licken, Jekyll and Hyde, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Brassed Off, Robin Hood and the Major Oak, Pleasant Land, The Wind in The Willows, Treasure Island, Extra Time, Look Back in Anger, Hansel and Gretel, Great Expectations, Kes, The Odyssey (all Derby Theatre).

Other Theatre Credits include: Of Mice and Men (Derby Theatre/Hull Truck/Bolton Octagon/Theatre by The Lake); Twelfth Night (Not Too Tame/Shakespeare North Playhouse); Footsteps in the Mud (Theatre Pinklec, Croatia); Romeo and Juliet (Stafford Shakespeare Festival/Gatehouse); Slow Violence, The Garden in my Living Room (BTeam Theatre); Wish (CAST); Abigail’s Party (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Our Mutual Friend (Hull Truck – City of Culture 2017); The Bear/The Proposal (Young Vic); Everything is Possible, East is East (York Theatre Royal); To Sir With Love (Royal and Derngate Theatre); Death of a Salesman, A View From The Bridge (Octagon Bolton); Underneath a Magical Moon (Tutti Frutti Productions USA Tour/National Children’s Theatre South Africa); What to Do When You Find a Dinosaur (Oxford Playhouse); Alladin, Cinderella, The Snow Queen (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Echo (ZoieLogic Dance); The Elves and the Shoemakers (Theatre Hullabaloo); Wuthering Heights (Aberystwyth Arts Centre); Vertigo (Oxfordshire Theatre Company); Whiter Than Snow (Graeae); We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Polka Theatre); Fungus the Bogeyman (Pilot Theatre); The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (Salisbury Playhouse); Chameleon (Sheffield Theatres); Silent Cry (Lyric Hammersmith); Wise Guys, Tagged (Red Ladder) and Dundee Rep’s highly acclaimed productions of The Little Mermaid, The Cherry Orchard and the TMA award-winning Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

SASHA HARRINGTON
| MOVEMENT DIRECTOR

Sasha is from Brighton and lives in Glasgow. She trained at Rose Bruford College and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Theatre Credits include: The Testament of Gideon Mack (Dogstar Theatre Company); F*ckers (4PLAY – Traverse Theatre); Dance the Colour Blue (Acting Coach Scotland); The Stamping Ground (RAW Material/Eden Court, Inverness); The Virgin Trials (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); Kantor (Rose Bruford College); Wheel See (Tramway and Workroom); Voices in the Dark (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); We Walk Tall (Southwark Playhouse); I Know Who I Am (Arcola Theatre)

Film/Television/Radio Credits include: Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires (BBC)

ROBIN HELLIER 
| FIGHT DIRECTOR

Robin is from Perth, trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and is a certified teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat.

Theatre Credits include: REVENGE: After the Levoyah (Plotnek Productions); A Streetcar Named Desire, Sunshine on Leith, Peter Pan & Wendy and Noises Off (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Footloose (Pitlochry Festival Theatre/New Wolsey Theatre); Little Women (Pitlochry Festival Theatre/HOME Manchester); Group Portrait in a Summer Landscape (Pitlochry Festival Theatre/Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh); Deer Annie, I Hate You (Wild Geese Productions); The Mosinee Project (Counterfactual); The Merry Wives of Wishaw and Henry IV (Bard in the Botanics); Tosca (Opera Bohemia); Faust: The Devil Went Down to Paisley and Verdi’s Macbeth (Paisley Opera); The Trojan Women and Haemosporidian (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre)

Film/Television Credits include: Kill Your Lover (Switchblade Cinema); The Other Brother, Thursday and One More Minute (Metfilm School); Boudica (Bouteg Ltd.)

Robin teaches dramatic combat at East 15 Acting School and Metfilm School, London, and runs training courses across the UK.

JESS BALDWIN | ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

TRACY CATTELL | STAGE MANAGER

HARRY CRANE & HANNAH GRIFFITHS | DUTY TECHNICIANS

ANNA DIAMOND | DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER

MEGAN GOODLET | DRESSER

LANA KIRK | SOUND OPERATOR NO.1

RUARAIDH MACPHEE | SOUND OPERATOR NO.1

JAMES SHERLOCK | CAPTION PROGRAMMER / OPERATOR

OLLY WHITEHEAD | LX OPERATOR

I began adapting The Great Gatsby in 2024, driven by a deep desire to bring this classic novel to life on stage. But it wasn’t until I fully examined Fitzgerald’s words that I understood my personal connection to the material and why I was so drawn to it.

A century after Fitzgerald first published the novel, I found myself in Pitlochry, grappling with the same issues, ideas, and questions that he explored when writing the story. Fitzgerald’s work delves into the complexities of class, the elusive nature of hope, and the painful loss of that hope. He explores both the beauty and destruction of love, and how cynicism can creep into even the most idealistic hearts when their dreams are shattered by the reckless and often cruel actions of others. At that point in my life, I could feel that same cynicism creeping in, and I realised that the novel wasn’t just a historical work for me—it remained incredibly relevant and was speaking to my heart and being now.

Once I understood my emotional connection to the story, I began to figure out how to adapt it for the stage. There’s a common misconception that the novel is primarily about Jay Gatsby. While it tells Gatsby’s story, it is really Nick’s story. Nick is our narrator, and the other characters—including Gatsby—aren’t fundamentally changed by the events in the story. It is Nick who is forever altered by everything he experiences. Therefore, one of the first challenges I faced was finding a compelling reason for Nick to be telling it. Many adaptations have used different framing devices, but I wanted to stay as true as possible to Fitzgerald’s original vision. That’s when it clicked—what if Nick, a writer in the book, is trying to find a conclusion to his first novel? His story would be about how he met a man named Gatsby, who left such a lasting impact on him that he couldn’t quite explain. Nick’s mission to understand and make sense of this relationship would give the story urgency and purpose, turning his retelling into something active for the audience. This realisation became my entry point into the adaptation, and once I had that, everything else seemed to fall into place.

Next came other decisions—I also had the task of creating characters that actors could truly inhabit and, of course, figuring out how to make the scenes work for the stage. This part of the process is something I really love; sometimes I call that bit the mechanics of the adaptation. And then there’s the joy of working with an ensemble and in repertory, which really informs the later drafts of the play.

I’m also always thinking about theatricality when adapting for the stage. It helps me avoid the trap of writing something that feels more like a television drama. From the start, I knew I wanted live 1920s jazz music woven into the piece. Sarah, the incredible director, was totally committed to including music too and wanted to blend in some modern tracks with a jazz twist. This sparked the exciting challenge of finding a way to make her vision come to life. I went away and worked both 1920s jazz music and contemporary songs into the play, knowing that Shonagh, the wonderful Musical Director, would reorchestrate them to sound like jazz from the Fitzgerald era. It was important to me that the contemporary songs felt closely tied to Jay Gatsby’s world, reflecting his “new money” status. Every choice, including the music, is meant to add depth to the story. And adapting doesn’t stop when you hand in the rehearsal draft.

Adapting The Great Gatsby for the stage has been another important reminder that the magic of theatre lies in its ability to connect us to stories across time, showing us that, no matter the era, the human experience remains strikingly the same. Now, for the second leg of the co-production, I’m excited for audiences to see the production in Derby and experience this world in a new way, through the lens of jazz, theatre, and a story that still speaks to our hearts today as much as it did over a century ago.

Elizabeth Newman
Adaptor, The Great Gatsby

50 tickets available for every performance throughout the run at ONLY £15.50 per person

**If you request to exchange your tickets to a different performance, the same priced tickets will be offered (if available) – however, these are subject to availability. — If not, then additional costs (for higher priced tickets) may apply.**

Friday 3 — Monday 6 October
OTHER PREVIEW PERFORMANCES
We invite you to join us for the production
early on in its run at ONLY £25 per person