Photo Flash: THE LAST TYCOON Opens at the Tabard Theatre

"The Last Tycoon" opened last night at the Tabard Theatre, direct from its run at the Arts Theatre in London's West End. Adapted for the Tabard stage it depicts the heady days of the 1930's glamorous Hollywood scene. Written by Simon Levy, with the approval of the F Scott Fitzgerald Estate, and directed by Linnie Reedman.

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 return to the Tabard Theatre, until 22nd October with their take on F Scott Fitzgerald's final work: 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?

The cast includes Alexander Hulme The Glass Protégé (Park Theatre), Gertrude - The Cry, Sullivan Mac The Mousetrap (60th Anniversary Tour), James Lloyd Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (National Theatre), Sam Halpenny The Dark Lady of Denmark (RSC Stratford),Eastenders, Martin Leonard-Williams from the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts, Alexander J. Fragkos As You Like It, Cabaret(National Theatre of Greece), Tristan Pegg The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC, Old Vic), The Years Between (Orange Tree), Haydn James, Mica Williams and introducing Hero Douglas as Cecilia Brady

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 400th 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...

Box office 0208 995 6035

www.tabardweb.co.uk

October 4th to 22nd - Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30 pm

Photo Credit: Annabelle Narey.

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