100 years of Great Gatsby Celebrated at Trinity

Celebrations in Trinity to mark 100 years since the first publication of The Great Gatsby explores the novel’s connections to Oxford and Trinity College itself.

The quintessential American novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, first published in April 1925, has a fascinating connection to Trinity College. Its eponymous hero, the shadowy and mysterious Jay Gatsby, likes to tell people that he has been ‘at Oxford’, and to prove his connection to the University, he produces a photograph of himself, with a cricket bat, which he says was ‘taken in Trinity Quad.’ 

To mark the centenary of the novel’s publication, and to celebrate Trinity’s renowned albeit fictitious alumnus, the Trinity Players performed Simon Levy’s The Great Gatsby to sell-out audiences in the President’s Garden, while college archivist Clare Hopkins curated an exhibition entitled ‘Gatsby at Trinity – the evidence.’ 

The exhibition looks at historic evidence from the College’s Archive to explore four key questions:  Where could Gatsby’s photograph have been taken? Who might have taken it? How did an American get to Oxford in the 1920s? and could Gatsby play cricket? 

Trinity College Archivist Clare Hopkins says: ‘This exhibition is intended as a bit of fun. Step back in time to explore Trinity as it would have looked when F Scott Fitzgerald visited Oxford in 1921.  Consider the evidence for Gatsby being a member of Trinity College, which is presented in the form of documents and photographs from the college Archive. Was Gatsby telling the truth?’

In addition to the archive exhibition, Trinity College’s resident theatre group, the Trinity Players, staged Simon Levy’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby, co-directed by George Loynes and Izzy Moore. Though faithful to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original text, the production reimagined the story through ensemble-driven, expressive physical theatre, complemented by a live jazz band performing original compositions. Framed through the perspective of Nick Carraway, the production explored the tension between observation and participation, with the ensemble reflecting Nick’s fragmented and unsettled gaze. Key roles included Dominic Murphy-O’Connor as Jay Gatsby, Alexander McCallum as Nick Carraway, Isabel Clarke as Daisy Buchanan, and Gillies Macdonald as Tom Buchanan.