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Ncuti Gatwa, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Malachi Kirby star in the award-winning playwright, Roy Williams', ‘Gatsby in Harlem’. A re-imagination of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Harlem NYC, 1925. It is the time of one of the most creative cultural revolutions America has ever experienced. The Harlem Renaissance is up and running! Young Nick Carraway runs away from the racial segregated Jim Crow laws of the deep south for a better life as an African American in New York City. He is reunited with his cousin Daisy and meets her domineering husband, uptight black businessman Tom Buchanan. Nick rents a ground floor grubby apartment. Right in the heart of Harlem. He resides next door next to the fanciest as well as largest Brownstone mansion on the block, owned by one Jay Gatsby, a mysterious black business magnate who often hosts extravagant all night jazz parties on every floor of his home.

Gatsby’s parties are the talk of Harlem! Set in an all-black neighbourhood with a heavy jazz score. This slightly reimagined take of the original classic, moves the location from the Long Island of the 1920s dominated by WASPS, (White Anglo Saxon Protestant), to the pulsating, jazz loving streets of African American Harlem in the 20s. The Harlem Renaissance offered African Americans across the country a new spirit of self determination, pride and a belief in their own American Dream, that all Americans would one day be able live and be respected and accepted as one, living in a time when segregation
becomes a thing of the past.

Harlem is the perfect setting for a re-imagined world of The Great Gatsby. The 1920’s Jazz Age, during which Fitzgerald's novel is set, overlaps directly with The Harlem Renaissance, a vibrant cultural and artistic movement. Both movements emphasised the transformative power of creativity, music (especially Jazz), and breaking free from societal norms. Gatsby’s opulent parties, filled with Jazz and excess, align with the rise of Black culture and expression. Fitzgerald was also looking at reinvention, with Gatsby embodying the self-made man. Similarly Harlem represented a cultural reinvention for African Americans, a reclaiming of identity and a celebration of achievements in all areas of the arts and politics.

Warning: This programme contains some historical racial language.

The original theme music was composed and performed by Tomorrows Warriors, a Jazz company dedicated to inclusivity and diversity in Jazz, fostering a culture of mentorship to talented young jazz musicians.

This episode features an extract from "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" by Langston Hughes.

Credit List
Nick Carraway - Malachi Kirby
Jay Gatsby - Ncuti Gatwa
Daisy Buchanan - Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Tom Buchanan Chiké Okonkwo
Jordon Baker - Michaella Moore
Myrtle Wilson - Harmony Rose Bremner
Wilson - Ako Mitchell
Stephanie St Claire - Moya Angela
Dan Cody - Sam dale
Klipspringer - Tom Glenister
Mr Greene - Joseph Mydell

Other parts were played by
Tom Alexander,
Sam Dale,
Tayla Kovacevi-Ebong
Vigs Otite
Finlay Paul
Romario Splatt

Gatsby in Harlem was directed by Celia de Wolff
Produced by Nathan Freeman and Tom Billington

This is a Granny Eats Wolf production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3

For Granny Eats Wolf, the Executive Producers were Tom Billington and Nathan Freeman

Producer - Celia De Wolff
Assistant Producer - Eleanor Mein
Runner - Greg Birk
Sound Design - Andreina Gomez Casanova and Axel Kacoutié
Dialogue editor and engineer - Matt Bainbridge.
Additional editor - Lucinda Mason-Brown.
Original music and composition - Emily Tran
Music Supervisor - Ben Burrell
Musical Director - Gary Crosby.

Performers for Tomorrow Warriors were,
Gary Crosby and Tom Sheen on Bass
Will Gibson on Sax and Clarinet
Mark Kavuma on Trumpet
Sarah Tandy on Piano
And Rod Youngs on Drums
Arrangements by Mark Kavuma and Emily Tran.
The producer for Tomorrow’s Warriors was Fish Krish.

Music was sound engineered, mixed and mastered by Luc Saint Martin

All dialogue and music was recorded at The Confetti Institute - London, part of Nottingham Trent University.

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