Bloomsday — Seattle 2020
The Wild Geese Players of Seattle will present a staged reading of Chapter 11, “Sirens”, adapted from the 1922 edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses. For the first time ever, our annual reading will be presented online and available for all to stream on Bloomsday, June 16, 2020 here at WildGeeseSeattle.org.
Update: Watch the video.
Bloomsday (Bloom’s day, named for Ulysses’ main character, Leopold Bloom) refers to the 24-hour period on June 16, 1904 in which Ulysses is set. Ulysses follows the wanderings of Bloom, a Jewish everyman, and Stephen Dedalus, a young writer and Joyce’s alter ego, as they wander the streets of Dublin.
Join us online for Chapter 11, Sirens, where it is 4 pm and the Dublin characters gather at the Ormond Hotel by the banks of the River Liffey. Leopold Bloom joins Father Cowley, Simon Dedalus, Richie Goulding, Lenehan, and Ben Dollard among others, to enjoy an afternoon of songs and music, with the divine Miss Douce and the comely Miss Kennedy setting the scene.
The Readers
Narrators: Claudia Finn, Irene Calvo, Bruce Greeley, Iain Edgewater
Miss Lydia “Bronze” Douce: Olivia Bermingham-McDonogh
Miss Mina “Gold” Kennedy: Ellen Coyle
Bloom: Maura Donegan
Bloom Interior: Mark Gunning, Maura Donegan
Simon Dedalus: Bill Barnes
Lenehan: Leon Mattigosh
Blazes Boylan: Joseph Ryan
Ben Dollard: Joseph Ryan
Father Cowley: Lynne Compton
George Lidwell: Leon Mattigosh
Richie Goulding: Roger Berger
Boots: Joseph Ryan
Robert Emmet: Bill Barnes
Tom Kernan: Roger Berger
Stripling: Roger Berger
Shopgirl: Ellen Coyle
Conductor: Roger Berger
Production
Co-Director: Lynne Compton
Co-Director: Roger Berger
Script: George Reilly
Recorder: Joseph Ryan
Recording Editor: Helen Brew
Publicity: Claudia Finn, George Reilly
Poster: Ellen Coyle, Leon Mattigosh, Claudia Finn
Special Thanks to Matthew Donegan-Ryan
Script
Read along with the script. Adapted by George Reilly from the Project Gutenberg text.
Press Release
This is our twenty-third year of Bloomsday readings. (Press Release).
Notes
Co-director Roger Berger has provided some additional notes on the Sirens chapter.
Commentary on Sirens
- Text of Chapter 11
- The Joyce Project: Sirens
- Ulysses Guide
- Kennesaw Guide
- Cliff Notes
- Sparknotes
- The Joyce Portal
- The Sheila Variations
- Joyce Images
- Paul Debraski
- Shmoop Summary and Analysis
- Groden Notes
- Joyce’s Moraculous Sindbook: Suzette Henke — “Lestrygonians” and “Sirens”: Food for Men and Gods
- The Modern Word
- James Joyce’s Ulysses: Where It’s Always June 16, 1904 and Sirens II
- RTÉ 25-hour broadcast of Ulysses (history)
Other Wild Geese Events
See our archives for details of our previous readings.