Kelly Burke will reprise her role as the charismatic and outrageous Zelda Sayre in a new production of the performer and playwright’s one-woman show at the Trafalgar Studio 2 for a limited run later this month.
Based on the letters and fiction of America’s first flapper and wife of legendary author F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda first played at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival under the direction of Robert F. Gross, who returns to the production for its Trafalgar Studio run.
The drama tells the story of Sayre, the belle of Alabama and wife to Fitzgerald. Their life together is one great party, from the madness of Jazz Age New York to the gin-soaked glamour of the Riviera. But when Zelda too takes up writing, more than just her marriage cracks up.
While Zelda has played at other London fringe theatres and at the Charing Cross Hotel in an acclaimed site-specific production, earning Burke an Off West End Award nomination for Best Female Performer, this latest run will mark the show’s West End premiere.
Zelda, which hits London in midst of much Fitzgerald celebration with recent acclaimed hit Gatz in the West End and Baz Luhrmann’s high profile film adaptation of The Great Gatsby due out next year, will play at the bijou venue from 18 September to 4 October.