“This Side of Paradise” at the History Theater is one of those excellent productions we need to see more of. The play tells the story of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald through Zelda’s perspective while being treated for mental illness in a sanitorium. Multiple Zeldas – Zelda as a girl, Zelda as a debutante, Zelda as a wife, Zelda as a patient – appear on stage.
The conflicted relationship between Zelda, Scott, and Ernest Hemingway is visualized with a tug of war.
A tug of war between Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda, and Ernest Hemingway
Zelda as a mental patient revisits the past.
Zelda relives the partying of her youth. Young Zelda and Scott dance on the right.
Young Zelda, after getting engaged to Scott, and older Zelda
Scott and Zelda, flapper era and ever present bootleg liquor
Zelda’s frustrated creativity is a recurring theme. She had dreams of dancing in the ballet and throughout the play she works on a painting of a dancer.
Zelda and her doctor
The following moment on stage captures multiple identities: little girl Zelda as a ballerina comforts 27 year old Zelda who has collapsed after a difficult dance practice. In the foreground the doctor comforts Zelda at the sanitorium.
Zelda collapses after dancing for her doctor
The sanitorium
The History Theater provides an in depth background piece on the Fitzgeralds here.
All photographs and content Copyright 2013 Alice Gebura All Rights Reserved.