Everyone

The Great Gatsby – The Great Debate

Wed 22 Oct, 2025
Derby Theatre and CivicLAB presents 1925 Long Island New York, 2025 Derby, UK: an exploration of the enduring themes of The Great Gatsby and how they resonate today.  

A University of Derby Partnership Event

The dazzling, decadent world of the Roaring Twenties or the moral decay, and unattainable dreams of the Jazz Age?  Either way, what does this fascinating era teach us about our own society? F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, offers a window into an era defined by excess and illusion.

The University of Derby, proudly hosts a panel of experts to discuss the question of how, a century later, we still are navigating our own age of social media, celebrity culture, and economic anxiety.

The panel, chaired by Callum Bate, has invited experts to discuss the promises and pitfalls of the American Dream during a time of immense change and contrast it with the social mobility challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.

Panellists include:

  • Sarah Brigham, CEO and Artistic Director of Derby Theatre, and Director of The Great Gatsby
  • Professor Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and author of Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby, which explores the true story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and the extravagant, scandalous, and chaotic world in which he lived.
  • Dr. Corey Mwamba, acclaimed jazz musician, respected promoter, and accomplished academic
  • Dr Robin Sims leads the undergraduate English provision at the University of Derby, where he lectures on modernist literature, postmodernism, crime writing and critical theory. He completed his doctorate at Cardiff University’s Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory in 2005.

Don’t miss this journey into the past to explore our present.


Side-by-side logos. On the left, the University of Derby logo shows three stylised black hills above the words University of Derby in bold uppercase letters. On the right, the Civic Lab logo features the words Civic Lab in block-style font inside a broken circular outline.

Join us for The Great Gatsby at Derby Theatre this Autumn

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Venue

Derby Theatre Community Hub

Overview

Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Pricing

Standard: Pay What You Can (PWYC)