THE LAST FLAPPER Enters Final Week of Performances at Edinburgh Fringe

The Last Flapper will end its EdFringe run on 19 August at Greenside @ Riddles Court – Clover Studio (Venue 16). The show premieres a new version of William Luce's play which has been created by DuBord and Texan director Lydia Mackay. 

“Psychiatry is worse than witchcraft” – confined in an asylum and unaware that she has just hours to live, Zelda Fitzgerald rails against the forces that have robbed her of all she loved. 

Based on Zelda's own writings and letters it reveals the depth of passion she felt for her celebrated husband in their early days, as she describes F Scott Fitzgerald as her “golden god”. 

Their lives were notoriously riotous; party people taking joy in outraging social convention, as well as being immensely creative.  

Zelda, though, gradually reveals the unseen side of her marriage, in which she was browbeaten and physically abused. Derided as a third-rate writer by her husband she nevertheless accuses him of plagiarising her short stories and making free with the contents of letters she wrote him in his own work. 

Icon of the Jazz Age, and a lover of glamour and fashion, she is now locked away in an institution where she is not even permitted lipstick. 

Candid, poignant but frequently playful The Last Flapper allows Zelda to speak for herself, rather than have others bend her story to their own purposes – as happened in her life and after her death.  

While the play is historical, the issues it tackles are anything but history. 

Playing Zelda in Luce's one-woman show fulfils a long-held ambition for DuBord, who lived yards from the Fitzgeralds' former home in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

She said: “I fell in love with the show when I was 16. I was born right around the corner from the Fitzgerald house, so when I found this play about her letters and writing, I was immediately sucked in. 

“The show has undertones of a woman's right to her own medical decisions. Zelda did not have that. She was trying to find her voice in a world that was not ready to hear from women.  

“That was in the 1920s–1940s. Time has passed but progress has only been limited, indeed it can feel like we are sliding backwards. The echoes of the past are highly relevant today, which is why I decided on this project.” 

Cast and creatives 

• Company: Belle Sauvage 
• Written by: William Luce 
• Adapted and performed by: Catherine DuBord 
• Director: Lydia Mackay 

About Belle Sauvage 

Belle Sauvage was created in 2023 by Catherine D. DuBord to bring new and existing work championing women's voices to the stage in Dallas and beyond.  The Last Flapper will be the company's inaugural production. 

 

About Catherine DuBord 

Catherine DuBord is a classically trained actress holding a BFA in Theatre from Southern Methodist University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Upon graduation, Catherine hit the ground running and hasn't slowed down. Her wide range of talents makes it hard to put her in any one box. No stranger to the stage, Catherine has worked extensively in 50+ productions in a wide array of challenging roles at virtually every major theater in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, earning her numerous acting awards and nominations. Some of her favourite highlights include: Noises Off, The Farnsworth Invention, Susan and God, and Popcorn (Theatre Three), Steel Magnolias, Catholic School Girls, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, LuAnn Hampton Laverty Oberlander and Sylvia (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas), In the Next Room, or the vibrator play and Pillowman (Kitchen Dog), Romance in D and Finishing School (One Thirty Productions), Don't Dress for Dinner and Holmes and Watson(Stage West) Matt and Ben (Echo), Some Girl(s) (Second Thought) and This Random World (Circle Theatre). She is a proud member of Actors' Equity and is represented by The Mary Collins Agency in Dallas. 

About Lydia Mackay 

Lydia Mackay is proud to call Dallas/Fort Worth her home, personally and artistically. She holds a BFA in Theatre from Texas Wesleyan University and an MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University. She is also a Registered Yoga Teacher, a proud member of the SAFD, AEA, and ATME, and is represented by The Mary Collins Agency. Lydia is currently an Assistant Professor of Performance at Texas Christian University, and continues to work professionally as a stage and voice actor. At Theatre TCU, she recently directed Babette's Feast and designed the fight choreography for Othello, and this fall will direct Dawn King's play The Trials.  

Website www.bellesauvage.us 

Instagram www.instagram.com/thelastflapper/  

Facebook www.facebook.com/Thelastflapper 

To post a comment, you must register and login.