If you’re one of us Joyceans, then likely you have a favorite chapter of this strapping big book. No matter which of the eighteen you fancy, you will taste a delicious sample of it in this 3-hour reduction of Ulysses—introduced through the fourth wall by Scott Shepherd. (If you’re not familiar with/entranced by the book, hopefully you will find something of interest, be it the orchestrated chaos of “Circe” or the quiet opening of “Telemachus.” A handy synopsis of the material is available.) Only “Penelope” is presented in full, a gentle, intimate reading by Maggie Hoffman.
Myself, I’m partial to “Eumaeus” and “Ithaca,” with Shepherd answering the questions with ghostly reverb. But it’s the explosion of sound (Ben Williams) and projections (Matthew Deinhart) in “Aeolus” that knocked my socks off, every clank of the printing press turned up to 11. KMRIA!
Shepherd again breaks the fourth wall at two other points, to unpack the subtle satire of “Cyclops,” and before that to poke at a question that had not occurred to me: Bloom appears certain that Boylan will visit Molly at 4 PM, but nowhere in the text are we given an explanation of how he knows that.
Of necessity, this “greatest hits” interpretation of the book omits some characters in the interest of clarity, but there still are scads of characters for this vituoso ensemble to embody—among them, Stephanie Weeks as an oversexed Martha Clifford; Kate Benson as Zoe, Myles Crawford, and The Citizen; and Vin Knight as Leopold Bloom. A wonderful choice is to have two actors speak some of the internal monologue lines simultaneously, both the actor-character and a narrator. In Shepherd’s introduction, he suggests that every reading of a text is a misreading, and indeed this production amps up the juicy, saucy bits (see above, something for everyone). Most characters speak with an American dialect; perhaps some of the music is lost. To that end, I was somewhat taken aback by the pronunciation of Mr Deasy’s name as “DEE-zee.”
One more nugget that I’ve never noticed before: Molly speaks of men and their “20 pockets.” Yes, we are usually blessed with an abundance of places to store cakes of soap and potatoes and mash notes, but why 20? Did Molly come up with that number herself?
- Ulysses, created by Elevator Repair Service, text by James Joyce, co-direction and dramaturgy by Scott Shepherd, directed by John Collins, The Public Theater, Martinson Hall, New York