Domestic & International tours through 1999
Hong Kong, Hungary, France
Beth Fitzgerald's brilliant reincarnation of F Scott's estranged wife, Zelda Fitzgerald by Willard Simms
PLAYED: Ed Fest 1997 UK & International Tour, New End, London 1998
Zelda Sayre was the Princess Diana of her day... The darling of the tabloids... the First Flapper. Together, she and her famed husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, led a crazed existence. The beautiful and daring Zelda became the embodiment of the spirit of the Roaring Twenties and the inspiration for many of Scott's fictional characters. But the Fitzgeralds publicly scorned convention and destroyed much of what lay in their path.
In 1930 Zelda was diagnosed schizophrenic and for the next 18 years she lived a tortured life moving from institution to institution. She died in a fire at her last mental hospital in 1948 at the age of 48. She is rumoured to have started it.
Bye Bye Blackbird premiered in the UK at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival. Beth Fitzgerald, who won the prestigious Stage Award for Best Actress the year before for her performance in The House of Correction, Beth was once again nominated. The production received exceptional reviews and enjoyed sellout success.
