'Look here, old sport': Students perform 'The Great Gatsby' in a roaring good time

For most students, “The Great Gatsby” is simply a book read in English class, but for theater kids at Bishop Stang, the story has come to life on stage.

“I think we’ve done an amazing job bringing the story to life, what you visualize when you’re reading it onto the stage, through the sets, through the costumes, through the music,” said junior Chloe Costa of Dartmouth, who plays Jordan Baker.

In one scene, Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby drive in Gatsby’s yellow car, a backdrop of a roadway moving behind them. In another, partygoers smoke from cigarette holders and dance in flapper dresses. Characters drape over couches, gossip at dinners and reminisce about the past.

“This is a story about wealth and all of the things in the Roaring '20s that were very materialistic and worldly,” said Theater Director Julia Lavoie.

Junior Jack Nylin of Dartmouth plays Jay Gatsby and described his character as a “hopeless romantic.”

“[Gatsby] spends his entire life working for this dream that he never gets to actually capture,” he said. “I think that in the end destroys him emotionally because that’s his entire archetype as a person.”

Saphira Botelho of Westport plays Daisy Buchanan, the story’s main female character and Gatsby’s love interest.

“She’s dreaming of this man she met many years ago, and then she finally meets him again, and she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is my dream man,’” Botelho said. “So they’re kind of sneaking around, but she’s still torn between the two lifestyles.”

Botelho said one of her favorite scenes to act in is when the characters are in the Plaza Hotel and secrets are revealed.

“It’s when everything you know comes out in the open, and it’s very high tension, and I think it’s just very fun to get to portray that on stage,” she said.

Costa said that playing Jordan Baker has been a dream of hers for a couple of years.

In the play, Jordan is Daisy’s best friend and Nick’s love interest. She’s Daisy’s support system and a gossiper, filling in Nick with the latest drama.

“I really like the dinner scene with Nick. It’s my biggest scene, and I get to lore drop basically on Daisy and Gatsby’s whole back story and how they know each other,” Costa said. “It’s a very vital moment because you get to learn how much Gatsby and Daisy mean to each other.”

To Costa, “The Great Gatsby” is more than an “old mushy, gushy love story.”

“There’s so many twists and turns. It’s so traumatic and the ending is such an instant twist that you really don’t see it coming,” she said.

While the actors had to take some creative liberties with some minor characters omitted and scenes cut to fit in a two hour show, most of the story echoes what is written on paper.

“Everything about the show is just as the book would tell it, and we’re trying our best to show it how people envision it when they read it,” Costa said.

For many of the students involved, the play gives them a chance to bring one of their favorite stories to life.

In his sophomore year, Nylin read “The Great Gatsby” in class. Then, this past winter he watched the musical and “fell in love with the show.”

“It’s just such a timeless piece,” Nylin said.

He added, “I could probably be reading this book in 2075 as an old man, clicking the pages and being like, ‘I love this story,’ because the ideas that you can see in the story are so wonderful and timeless.”

Performance dates are Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15, with both shows starting at 7 p.m. at Bishop Stang High School at 500 Slocum Road. Tickets cost $12 for adults and $10 for students, children and senior citizens.

To purchase tickets, visit https://payit.nelnet.net/form/TXp7uggU.