The James Joyce Association of Ottawa presents A Duad of Joyce, a double bill comprising Welcome O Joyce, a reading to mark FW85, and The Dubliner’s Dilemma, a theatre performance based on Dubliners, at St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts on Thursday, June 13th at 7pm by renowned Irish theatremaker and actor Declan Gorman.
Welcome O Joyce (co-written by Declan Gorman and Des Gunning) has been specially commissioned for the James Joyce Association of Ottawa and the James Joyce Centre, Dublin, and is the curtain-raiser to this year’s international Bloomsday Festival. It is a montage of pieces from the four great prose works of Joyce, commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the first appearance in print of an extract of what would eventually become Finnegans Wake (1939). The 1924 ‘Mamalujo’ fragment is woven into an entertaining short presentation that includes a comic prologue and vivid scenes from Ulysses (1922), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), and Dubliners (1914)
The Dubliners Dilemma (written by Declan Gorman, directed by Gerard Lee) was premiered in Ireland in 2012 and has toured to Norway, USA, India, Russia (pre-Ukraine invasion) and all over Ireland. Described as a “truly mesmerizing performance” (Metro Herald) it finds London publisher Grant Richards re-reading the manuscript of Dubliners in 1914, eight full years after he initially rejected it on the grounds it might breach strict obscenity laws. Joyce’s Dublin comes to wild life around him, a city of innocence and perversion: of sexual predators, gigolos, gamblers and drinkers mingling among street children, housemaids and exquisite concert singers. Entranced again by the literary gifts of the truculent Irish author who refused to change a single word, Richards must decide whether to take the risk second time around, and be the one finally to bring the genius of Joyce to the world.
“Gorman holds the audience enraptured throughout with a truly mesmerising performance. This original adaptation is by no means exclusively for die-hard Joyce fans, making a brilliant introduction for newcomers!”
Metro Herald, Dublin
“Gorman is a compelling performer, at his best when undertaking childhood roles and in his element with Joyce’s obsequious characters … an animated and intelligent performance.”
Irish Theatre Magazine
Tickets $20 online or at the door. Visit https://jamesjoyceassociationofottawa.com/ or email info@jamesjoyceassociationofottawa.com for more information.
