The Trinity Players run of The Great Gatsby, staged in the Trinity College garden, sold out before its opening night. Having seen it, the success feels much deserved. An elaborate production from a team of nearly fifty, the show utilizes every bit of its considerable resources to create something soulful, stylish, and lovingly detailed.

We meet the ensemble first, who are dancing to era-appropriate jazz music, courtesy of the excellent live band, as we take our seats. When a production has an immersive start like this, the audience impulse is to try to suss out who is playing who. In its first clever choice of the night, none of the main cast appears in this ensemble, making each of their first appearances feel exhilarating and fresh.

The ensemble’s purpose doesn’t end there though. They serve, collectively, as Nick Carraway’s interior monologue, portioning his thoughts between themselves. This choice solves a major challenge of adapting the book for the stage: The Great Gatsby is a novel of iconic lines, to leave them out would gut the novel, but to keep them risks boring the audience with static stretches of Nick thinking aloud. This also allows Nick’s external personality as a wide-eyed observer truly shines through. Here, he’s played wonderfully with a puppyish earnestness and sincerity by Alexander Mccallum.

Finally, having an ensemble adds real power to the party scenes, giving them a sense of crowd and anonymity. There are multiple choreographed dance sequences to fully exploit this. Elsewhere, the ensemble also serves as brilliantly inventive scenery: Nick and Gatsby are propped atop the shoulders of two ensemble members for their horseback ride, and a pack of them become a car with spinning umbrella wheels in another moment.

The set design, centring on a hauntingly lovely painted billboard of (what else) the eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg, is smartly minimalist - bringing in key objects (a chaise lounge, a selection of shirts on a rack) when necessary but not overcrowding the stage with them.

The casting and direction, from Co-Directors Izzy Moore and George Loynes, is impeccable, with the actors embodying their characters essences prior to even opening their mouths. Tessa Yates’ Jordan has a smirking elegance, Gillies Macdonald’s Tom seems a breath away from rage at any moment, and Isabel Clarke’s Daisy imbues pain and restlessness into her bubbly mannerisms. Dominic Murphy-O’Connor has a warm, commanding presence as Gatsby, conveying steadiness and decency with every line - making his death feel all the more tragic. Jane Brenninkmeyer as Myrtle is a true standout - lighting up the stage with each appearance. Her Myrtle is explosively vivacious, simultaneously freewheeling and desperate. When the actors embody their characters so thoroughly, the story takes on a profound inevitability - it’s immediately evident things won’t be ending well.

The same level of thoughtfulness is granted to the clothes choices. Gatsby’s famous pink suit is three pieces, and an expensive woollen blend, but is notably oversized, making him look just slightly out of his depth. Daisy is clothed in airy, ethereal white layers, while Mrytle wears saucy tomato reds. Nick is dressed in warm, down-to-earth tones.

Jordan’s fresh faced and dressed in sleek black sillouttes, while Daisy is wearing a full face of dark twenties-style Flapper makeup, which looks harsh and confining. Her mouth looks wine stained from the dark lipstick. It’s all so thoughtfully selected, huge props to Holly McGlue, Mikela Persson Caracciolo and Hannah Walton for their costume design.

It was terrible weather the evening I attended, and I forgot my jacket at home. While the spitting rain and gusts of wind did add a fittingly mood atmosphere to the production, it’s perhaps the biggest compliment to the show that I did not resent getting soaked one bit. I was too transfixed by this highly creative, clever, and moving take on Fitzgerald’s classic. I can’t wait to see what The Trinity Players do next.