Wild Geese Players of Seattle

posted
Apr 15, 2009

The Other Bloomsday - Seattle 2009

James Joyce’s novel Ulysses takes place on June 16th, 1904. It follows the wanderings of Leopold Bloom, a Jewish everyman, and Stephen Dedalus, a young writer and Joyce’s alter ego, as they wander the streets of Dublin.

The centenary of Bloomsday, June 16th, 2004, was celebrated worldwide.

The Wild Geese Players of Seattle will present a staged reading of chapter 15, “Circe”, adapted from the 1922 edition of Ulysses. This year, we’re reading Circe on Saturday, June 13th, 2009, 1:00-3:45pm, at the University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105. Donations towards costs of posters and props are welcome.

Stephen Dedalus and his friend Lynch, both very drunk, have entered Nighttown, Dublin’s red-light district, in search of female companionship. Leopold Bloom, who has some paternal feelings for Stephen, has followed them. A long chapter full of hallucinations and nightmares, where Bloom confronts many of his unspoken desires and emerges strengthened.

Entrance is free, but donations are appreciated.

Further background information on the Circe chapter can be found at the Kennesaw guide to Ulysses and the Joyce portal. Or read the text of the chapter here.

2005 rehearsal

2005 Rehearsal

Back: Joe Martin, Bill Barnes, Joseph Ryan, Ciaran O’Mahony.
Front: Niall McDonnell, Jim McDermott, Scott McKinstry.

Other Events

See our archives for details of our previous readings.

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posted
Apr 15, 2009

2009 Bloomsday Press Release

The Other Bloomsday 2009 - Press Release

The Wild Geese Players of Seattle will perform a staged reading of Circe, chapter 15 of James Joyce’s Ulysses, on Saturday, June 13th, 2009, 1:00-3:45pm, at the University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105. Donations towards costs of posters and props are welcome.

It is late on the night of June 16th, 1904, and Leopold Bloom has followed Stephen Dedalus into Dublin’s red-light district. Bloom has a paternal concern for Stephen’s welfare and knows that Stephen is now very drunk. In the Circe chapter of Homer’s Odyssey, the witch-goddess Circe transforms Odysseus’ crew into swine. In Joyce’s version, Bloom will have hallucinatory encounters with the denizens of Nighttown and confront some of his deepest fantasies and fears, before emerging victorious. This chapter is extraordinarily long. We will perform the first half this year and read the second half in 2010.

The Wild Geese have been staging readings of Ulysses and other Irish literature in Seattle since 1998. We are a diverse group of people with an interest in Irish literature, and most of us are either Irish-born or have Irish connections. More generally, Wild Geese refers to the Irish diaspora, after the original Wild Geese, exiled Irish soldiers and their descendants who served in European armies in the 16th–18th centuries.

www.WildGeeseSeattle.org

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