Beautiful Little Fool | Southwark Playhouse

"That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

So says Daisy Fay Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, though some say it was actually taken from something that his wife Zelda said at the birth of their daughter. That theme, and the phrase, form the basis of a new musical about the Fitzgeralds, currently in its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough.

Beautiful Little Fool is narrated by the Fitzgeralds’ daughter, Scottie (Lauren Ward), now older than either of her parents were when they died and alternating between addressing the audience and her parents, who appear to play out their own life story. 

The show crams F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s admittedly short lives into an hour and forty minute runtime, moving from their first meeting in Montgomery, Alabama through their glittering years in New York and the South of France to Zelda’s early death in an asylum in North Carolina.

Amy Parker, standing in for creator Hannah Corneau as Zelda on press night and proving the incredible work which swings and understudies do every day in theatre, captures Zelda’s mercurial temperament perfectly, swinging from joy to anger to sadness with ease.

Ward is also excellent, lurking in the background throughout and providing much-needed context as well as poignancy as Scottie comments on her parents’ lives, while David Hunter as F. Scott Fitzgerald is charismatic but sadly underused.

The show also suffers from inconsistent pacing, with much of the most important action crammed into the final third, while Mona Mansour’s book is sometimes confusing and inconsistent in its emotional beats, although it does have moments where it truly shines. Corneau’s songs, too, are pleasant but often repetitive and forgettable, besides a few standouts such as “Built to Last.”

More could certainly have been made of Scottie’s challenging relationship with her mother, which feels like it wants to be at the centre of the story, but has to make do with a few brief standout scenes in the muddled narrative. 

A scene in which Scottie visits Zelda in one of the asylums in which she spent most of her later years and the two attempt to share a ‘normal’ mother-daughter bonding moment, is particularly impactful, showing the emotional resonance which this show could have if given a shift in focus.

This is also true of the scene in which Scottie tells the audience about her mother’s death, suddenly breaking the stoicism which she has shown for most of the musical’s runtime to scream into the audience about how the world treats “crazy women, ambitious women”. Again, this is a strong thread which could be developed more strongly throughout the piece. 

Shankho Chaudhuri’s set is incredibly intricate, featuring what Scottie terms the “archive” of her parents’ lives as the main stage, crammed with artefacts and books which come into use during the performance, while there is also a much barer upper level, often used to create distance between the characters.

However, the set feels a little too large for the small setting of the Southwark Playhouse Borough, as does Ben Stanton’s impressive but dazzling lighting.

Beautiful Little Fool has some positive notes, most notably the stellar cast performances, but needs substantial reworking in order to thrive. 

Beautiful Little Fool runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 28th February 2026. For more information and tickets, follow the link here.

★★☆☆☆ (2*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Pamela Raith