A one man play by Joe Beck

Directed by Elizabeth Falk

Attention all fans of great literature and superb acting – BLOOMSDAY APPROACHES! Come celebrate one of Ireland (and the world’s) finest writers, James Joyce, as read and performed by a legend of the American stage, Austin Pendleton, at a one-night-only virtual live reading presented by Guild Hall. Joyce’s most famous work Ulysses (1922) is based on Homer’s The Odyssey and follows the movements of Leopold Bloom through a single day on June 16th, 1904. Bloomsday is celebrated every year in Dublin and around the world by fans of Joyce at events including readings, performances, visitations to locales from the book, cosplay as characters from the novel and even eating the traditional Bloomsday breakfast of liver & kidneys served alongside an Irish fried breakfast. You don’t necessarily need to wear a straw boater or eat rashers and black pudding to enjoy this exclusive performance – a benefit for Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater which has been closed by the pandemic – but then again, it’s a virtual presentation so what you do from the comfort of your home while listening to the amazing Pendleton interpret this literary masterpiece is entirely up to you.

Of playwright Joe Beck’s sharp, new adaptation Pendleton remarks, “I feel that Joe has done the impossible: created a character for the theatre who could actually be James Joyce. This accomplishment in Joe’s writing astonished me. I would have thought it impossible. But here he is, Mr. Joyce, musing in free-from, struggling in free-form, about his writing, about his dreams and his successful efforts to create a literature that represented life as he knew it, in all it’s astounding complexity and wonder. Joe Beck finds the drama as well as the humor, and the joy, in Joyce’s struggle; and the sense of climbing a daunting mountain, going higher and higher into some literary heaven that before him had been unknown to anyone. For all these reasons it is a thrill for me to read Joe’s play aloud.”

This is a remarkable opportunity to intimately experience the charisma and versatility of one of America’s theatrical living legends – Austin Pendleton – a foremost interpreter of all things Joycean as well as an Obie and Drama Desk Award-winning, Tony-nominated director, playwright and star of Broadway and innumerable film and television appearances in a stellar career that has spanned over five decades of performance. Pendleton is directed by his colleague Elizabeth Falk, noted director of opera and theatre with a wide-ranging career that has carried her across America’s regional theaters to work in Russia, Europe and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London where she has the distinction of being the first woman to direct a play for that stage.

This presentation is the second offering in Guild Hall’s new Virtual John Drew Theater series and follows the popular recent presentation of A PORTRAIT OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS staring Harris Yulin and Mercedes Ruehl. As with TENNESSEE, this evening’s performance will be followed by a live Q&A with Mr. Pendleton and the play’s creative team, moderated by the John Drew Theater’s Artistic Director Josh Gladstone.

A link to the live broadcast will be emailed to ticket holders 24 hours in advance. If you purchase a ticket after that, the link will be emailed automatically in your ticket receipt.