Elevator Repair Service Announces A LIFT Production Of GATZ 6/8-7/15

Elevator Repair Service has announced that London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) will present GATZ June 8 – July 15, 2012.

GATZ
Created and Performed by Elevator Repair Service
Text: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Directed by John Collins
Noël Coward Theatre, London
June 8th – July 15th, 2012.
23 performances only.

GATZ is a word-for-word staging of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in a theatrical tour de force. GATZ is presented at the Noël Coward Theatre as part of LIFT 2012 and the London 2012 Festival.

About the show: Elevator Repair Service's GATZ is an eight-hour performance of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 seminal work on the fallibility of the American dream. Spread over four acts which take you from early afternoon into evening with a long dining interval, GATZ has taken the world by storm, and in 2010 was New York's hottest ticket. For 23 performances only GATZ will be at The NoëlCoward Theatre on St. Martin's Lane as part of LIFT 2012.

"One morning in the shabby office of a mysterious small business, an employee finds a copy of "The Great Gatsby" in the clutter on his desk. He starts to read it out loud and doesn't stop. At first his co-workers hardly notice. But after a series of strange coincidences, it's no longer clear whether he's reading the book or the book is transforming him."

Spread over 8 hours and with a cast of 13, including Wooster Group regular Scott Shepherd, GATZ is not a retelling of the Gatsby story but an enactment of the novel itself. Fitzgerald's American masterpiece is startlingly brought to life by a low-rent office staff in the midst of their inscrutable business operations.

Elevator Repair Service, atheatre ensemble, was founded by director John Collins and a group of actors in 1991. Since that time, ERS has built a body of work that has earned it a loyal following and made it one of New York's most highly acclaimed theatre companies of the past 20 years. www.elevator.org

GATZ was created and developed by the Elevator Repair Service ensemble, which includes the London cast: Laurena Allan (Myrtle), Jim Fletcher (Jim), Ross Fletcher (Henry C. Gatz), Lindsay Hockaday (alternate Catherine) Mike Iveson (Ewing), Vin Knight (Chester),Aaron Landsman (George), Annie McNamara (Catherine, alternate Jordan), Kate Scelsa (Lucille), Scott Shepherd (Nick), Susie Sokol (Jordan), Lucy Taylor (Daisy), and Ben Williams (Michaelis).

GATZ's Associate Director is Steve Bodow, and features scenic design by Louisa Thompson, costume design by Colleen Werthmann,lighting design by Mark Barton, and sound design by Ben Williams.

Prior to the London engagement, GATZ returns to The Public Theater in New York for a limited engagement, March 14, 2012 (with a slightly different cast). Since its 2006 premiere at the Kunsten Festival des Arts in Brussels, GATZ has been seen on 20 stages, including the McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ, 2011), The Public Theater (New York, NY, 2010), the American Repertory Theater (Boston, 2010), Sydney Opera House (2009), Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art (2008), Vienna Festival (2007), The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, 2006), and The Holland Festival (2006).

Awards include Zürcher Theater Spektakel ZKB-Acknowledgement Prize (2006); Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Visiting Production, Outstanding Director - John Collins, and Outstanding Actor - Scott Shepherd (2010); Lortel Awards for Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience and an Outstanding Director Award for John Collins (2011); and an Obie Award for Scott Shepherd's performance as Nick. GATZ also received a Drama Desk nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience; a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Production of a Play and a Distinguished Performance nomination for Scott Shepherd; Lortel nominations for Outstanding Lighting Design and Outstanding Sound design; and an Off-Broadway Alliance Award nomination for Best Theatrical Experience.

The casting for the LIFT engagement differs in a few instances from the cast for the upcoming spring 2012 performances at The Public Theater, but all actors are veteran ERS members.

GATZ is part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad, bringing leading artists from all over the world together in a UK-wide festival in the summer of 2012.

RS company members may alternate roles at select performances.

LIFT 2012 (London International Festival of Theatre) will take place across London from June 11th to July 15th. Lead by Artistic Director Mark Ball, LIFT is an exhilarating London wide festival of provocative and compelling Contemporary Theatre and performance of all sizes, brought from across the globe, which reflect both London and the world we live in.

This GATZ engagement will mark the first time in its thirty-year history that LIFT has programmed in the West-End. The full program for LIFT 2012 will be announced in March, but artists include the astonishing Belarus Free Theatre, the Iranian director Hamid Pourazari, and co-productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company of four Shakespeare works from French, Iraqi, Brazilian and British companies. http://www.liftfestival.com