BLOOMSDAY IN MELBOURNE
2020 ULYSSES IN PLAGUETIME
A Film Festival in 18 Episodes, 16 June 2020
War was not the only global catastrophe that is part of the background and the rich texture of Ulysses: Joyce was in Zurich and Trieste during the worst of the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918-9, and he narrowly dodged it, perhaps because he was unwittingly socially distancing, by writing and publishing serially some of the most thrilling episodes in the novel. It is a small footnote to history that Joyce biographers seem not to have noticed.
Locked out of theatres in 2020, Bloomsday and its talented theatre director turned their hands to film and social media, and revelled in both this distilled evocation of the novel and the opportunity to play with the new media, in ways we think Joyce would have relished.
THE FILM FESTIVAL
18 (short) films, a hectic-slam version of Ulysses in under 90 minutes. Viewers experience the rollercoaster of an extraordinary and simultaneously ordinary day on Thursday 16 June 1904, a gamechanger, in company with Poldy, Stephen and Molly (and a few more – remember, we were socially distancing, even actors). The films were originally seen according to Joyce's timetable on 16 June. VIEW FILMS HERE.
THE SEMINAR
Hosted by Philip Harvey (assisted by the scripting team of Ulysses in Plaguetime) on Facebook, over 400 participants contributed to an all-day discussion as the films were released. This was the most democratic seminar in the history of Bloomsday in Melbourne. Some of the topics canvassed are reflected on by the host in Analecta.
THE BLOG
For those seeking more about the films and the novel, there's a film-by-film discussion of the constraints and opportunities that the medium of the very short film provided, and an indication of what more is on offer in the novel. Take me to the blog.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
FILM DIRECTOR: JENNIFER SARAH DEAN
FILM EDITOR AND DESIGNER: KURTIS LOWDEN
FEATURING:
MAX GILLIES AS GUIDE
ALEXANDER PANKHURST AS LEOPOLD BLOOM
MATTHEW CONNELL AS STEPHEN DEDALUS
KURTIS LOWDEN AS MALACHI ‘BUCK’ MULLIGAN
ANNABELLE TUDOR AS MOLLY BLOOM
WITH:
EMMA AUSTIN AS JANE
DON BRIDGES AS GARRETT DEASY
LILIANA DALTON AS GERTY MACDOWELL
CARLY ELLIS AS CONDUCTOR AND NURSE
TREF GARE AS PROFESSOR MACHUGH
MAY JASPER AS ROMANCE READER GUIDE
EMMA JEVONS AS JANE
CALLUM MACKAY AS CITIZEN AND PRIVATE CARR
REBECCA NORTON AS MOTHER AND VEILED SYBIL
OLIVIA O’BRIEN AS ZOE HIGGINS
JOHNATHAN PECK AS W.B. MURPHY AND VOICE-OFF
HUNTER PERSKE AS PRIEST, VOICE-OFF AND IRATE ITALIAN
PAUL ROBERTSON AS SIMON DEDALUS
BRIDGET SWEENEY AS DERANGED POET
DREW TINGWELL AS NED LAMBERT
BLOOMSDAY IN MELBOURNE COMMITTEE:
DR FRANCES DEVLIN-GLASS – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & SCRIPT CREATOR
STEVE CAREY – PRODUCER
SIAN CARTWRIGHT – SECRETARY & SCRIPT CREATOR
BRUCE BESWICK – COMMITTEE MEMBER & SCRIPT CREATOR
ROBERT GLASS – COMMITTEE MEMBER
ULYSSES IN PLAGUETIME
A FILM FESTIVAL IN EIGHTEEN SHORT EPISODES - CLICK ON EACH TO VIEW
