I’m all trembly right now. I have always wanted to go to the all-day Bloomsday celebration – created by Isaiah Sheffer – held at the Symphony Space – I’ve been hearing about it for years. Frank McCourt describes the vibe there. Another excerpt, describing the excitement. One of the things I am MOST excited about is to hear Fionnula Flanagan read Molly Bloom’s monologue – she does it every year, it closes the entire event – and apparently it takes her 3 hours to get through it. I’M SO EXCITED THAT I AM GOING TO BE THERE TO … PARTICIPATE AND EXPERIENCE IT. (Mental Multivitamin discusses seeing a video of Flanagan doing the Molly monologue here … goosebumps.) Flanagan talks a bit about her connections with Joyce here. The Bloomsday celebration at Symphony Space is a yearly event – and I am sooo excited that I stopped the “oh, someday I’ll go to that” and just bought a ticket. Duh. It was 30 bucks. I’m going to be there from noon until midnight.
I feel voraciously excited about this!! I’m almost nervous. Something I have ALWAYS wanted to do. I’ll be there – at 11 am (it’s general seating … so dammit I want to get a good seat!) – with book in hand. Ready for the long LONG day ahead – but what a group event, what communal spirit – what insane geekery!
Can’t wait!
Wow. Sounds like a BLAST. Have a great time.
I hope there’s alcohol.
Well, be a good Irish lass and bring your own, in case of emergency.
This is true. Also, you gotta believe there’s gonna be a ton of drunks in that room.
I like it because it sounds like a JOLLY day – not a “ooh, let’s deconstruct the magnum opus …” A couple of the celebrations I researched had that feeling to it. “Discussion group about Ulysses vs. the Iliad following … complementary glass of wine included …”
YAWN.
I like the thorught that this is a raucous un-precious event – with ACTORS – not scholars reading the words … people faking Irish accents, or people with real Irish accents … and year upon year, Fionnula showing up at the end to do her thing.
Yay!
Yeah, those scholastic, elitist kind of situations have their place. They’re useful. They can be very interesting, but sometimes, you just want to kick back, be a fan, and ENJOY yourself celebrating a piece of work that you love.
i went to it one year – really enjoyed it. don’t make the mistake i made tho, which was ordering tix in advance. it cost more and was beyond unnecessary. there were people there, obviously, but not nearly enough to fill the place. i know you’re jazzed and plan to get there at the beginning, but a lot of people wander in hours into it, and people come and go from the main room through the whole day. they have a little ‘pub’ set up right outside the house, where you can hear the reading over the sound system and have a beer (the actors supposedly hang out there too when they’re not performing).
the year i went it was on a sunday, and i foolishly thought it would end at midnight b/c that’s what it said on the ticket. i had to leave around then so i could get home and sleep before going to work the next day. i listened to it on the radio the whole way back to staten island, and was still listening to it at home when i fell asleep. it was swell. enjoy it!
My Bloomsday celebrations have generally been nothing more than myself and a few literary geeks chanting out Oxen of the Sun (“Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa!”) and Molly’s soliloquy, over the darkest ale we can find in this pitifully un-Irish city.
Have fun, it sounds like a riot. :)