Tag: ireland

A highlight of 2024 so far has surely been my 9-day June trip to Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, to perform from the works of James Joyce as part of the Global Bloomsday 2024 festival.

Why Canada? Well, a couple of reasons. In conversation over Christmas 2023 with my old friend, noted Joycean and authority on modern Irish history Des Gunning, it came up that a number of significant commemorations would arise in 2024. The 85^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Canada would coincide with the 85^th anniversary of the publication of James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake” and indeed the 100^th anniversary of the first controversial appearance in print of a segment of that famously difficult book, in a transatlantic literary journal.

To a sociable Joycean historian, and a travel-hungry troubadour, that led to the obvious conclusion that what Canada needs now is a celebration of James Joyce, ideally one involving me! Canada is not without a significant tradition of honouring James Joyce already. Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa have active Joycean groups and a tradition of Bloomsday celebrations involving some truly gifted actors and scholars. Toronto is home to One Little Goat theatre company which is toing and froing across the Atlantic these very weeks, gradually creating a podcast performance of the entirety of “Finnegans Wake” to be ready in time for its 90^th anniversary in 2029. But, I reasoned, Canada has not yet had me.

The difficulty that morning of dreams appeared to be that my work with Joyce has tended to draw from the earlier, more accessible books, “Dubliners” in particular, while the occasion seemed to call for a remembrance of “Finnegans Wake”. In fact, it called specifically for a revisiting of “Mamalujo”, the episode of the book which was brought into the world by Ford Madox Ford in 1924. Or at least so it seemed to Des. And so was born the idea that I might create a performance around that seminal episode.

Perhaps if I had actually read it first, I might have baulked.  I certainly entertained second thoughts in the intervening months as I worked frantically to try to engage with the 688-page monkey puzzle that has divided opinion ever since that short excerpt first popped up innocuously under the title “Work in Progress” in The Transatlantic Review.

I did articulate to Des that if I was going to put my head in the guillotine and attempt FW, I should also be allowed to revive my old reliable (and favourite) Joyce performance, “The Dubliners Dilemma”. I also quickly determined that I could not, in all honesty, create nor sustain a full, off-book solo performance based on the Wake nor any part of it in six months, given that scholars have given over their entire adult lives to its many layers of meaning. And so it was settled that I would look at “Mamalujo 1924” as the transitional moment between Joyce’s early work and his final great book which is written in a ‘new world language’ that took him 15 years to complete and takes many people 15 years to read. I would pose the question, how did Baby Tuckoo, Joyce’s alter-ego in the cradle, fascinated by words and songs, progress from a love of sounds to the invention of a language.

Oh yes, and it would be kept short enough to fit into a double bill with a rumbunctious revival of “The Dubliners Dilemma”. I would be like an old rocker who performs the new album but keeps the fans happy with a few of the old classics. And there we had it, all planned over coffee and muffins in a café at Ashtown Gates in January, with just two glitches. Nobody in Canada knew about it. And we had no money.

We managed within days to elicit an invitation from the notable James Joyce Association of Ottawa who had bravely undertaken to mount a few events in 2024 specifically to highlight “Finnegans Wake” in its anniversary year. And I now submitted what seemed like a shoo-in proposal to Culture Ireland with a not-unreasonable request that the Government of Ireland might provide the modest sum of money it would take to cover my flight and my accommodation in Ottawa.

Being a master of the ulterior motive, I had another reason for wanting to visit Ontario. Members of my father’s family had emigrated there from Donegal in the last century, and I have living relations in Ontario that I had never visited on their own turf. I have a fascination with migration and it has featured as a theme in my work. Also, the older I get, the more I regret not keeping in closer touch with wider family: I have grown to understand the importance of heritage. So, privately, I thought I might pop down to Toronto to visit the folks! 

I began the stern task of writing what became a not-too-stern spoken word piece about James Joyce, his wonderful book “Finnegans Wake” and how it is anticipated in his earlier works, and all was good in my world.

Until Culture Ireland, overwhelmed this year with applications, declined to fund the trip. I was dismayed but sanguine: tendering is a gamble: you win a few, you lose a few: they have generously funded some of my earlier work.  But the deliberations had been delayed. By now it was April of the year and I was knee deep in a plan for June that could not be realised.

Until…. the good people of Canada, my own remarkable cousins among them, rallied around. Even without State imprimatur, the James Joyce Association of Ottawa announced it would honour its commitment to a fair professional fee if I could find my way to their fair city by other means. My cousins Ann Gorman McKinney and Seanie Gorman committed to finding viable gigs for me in the Toronto region to help defray the costs.  And so it all took flight again – on a wing and a poem.

I previewed “Welcome O Joyce” co-conceived with Des Gunning, at our partner venue The James Joyce Centre in Dublin, in early June. It suffered the kind of teething problems that uncertain new works often have. I went home that evening marginally chastened by the realisation before a live audience that our new chicken had come out of the egg a little wobbly. But I listened to the constructive feedback of scholarly friends, pruned ten minutes off the running time and – in correspondence with a by-now very busy pre-Bloomsday Des – recalibrated the performance somewhat for Ottawa.

I had already indicated that in Toronto and nearby Hamilton I would only perform “The Dubliners Dilemma”. But even that old familiar work involved much preparatory work, and I was grateful as ever to have trusted director Gerard Lee back in the rehearsal room with me as we reassembled our much-travelled show, after a gap of five years and a pandemic. Memory is a curious friend – it did not come easily but when it came, it felt like an old forgotten hat that sits on the crown comfortably again after years in the attic.

Sharon Cromwell my life partner and great pal travelled with me.  At 9.00 Irish time on Tuesday 11^th June we left our cottage home at Loughshinny on a 33A bus to Dublin Airport. We transferred from Toronto Pearson to the Via Express at the magnificent Union Station and travelled onwards to Ottawa by rail, arriving at our destination nineteen hours after we left home. We were warmly greeted on the platform by Dublin friend and Ottawa committee member Paula McCann, and her wise and wonderful husband Don Cummer, who whisked us to our hotel in the evocative Byward Market area.

Wednesday was spent sightseeing. We were moved by the tomb of the unknown soldier; the tale of assassinated Irish founding father of Canadian democracy Darcy McGee; a visit to the Parliament Building on the Hill, and in particular by “Women are Persons”, a fabulous public art work by Barbara Paterson depicting the Famous Five suffragette women who won a significant battle for women’s franchise.  An evening meal and a few songs at Don and Paula’s rounded off a wonderful day.

Thursday’s performance in the converted St Brigid’s Church – now repurposed as an arts centre – was a great success. Following a beautiful harp recital by the elegant Nora Pat Marshall, the evening was introduced in eloquent Irish and English by Rosemary O’Brien, Chairperson of the hardworking committee. The new work “Welcome O Joyce” (presented as a reading) was warmly received, its extracts from “Finnegans Wake” appreciated and its sideways segue into Molly Bloom’s dreams eliciting a fabulous, choral ‘Yes’ response from the lively crowd.  Part 2 of the evening saw my first Canada performance of “The Dubliners Dilemma”, reminding me that this mini-work, which tells of publisher Grant Richards’ difficult relationship with Joyce, has universal appeal. Joyce’s gleeful tales of the grimy underside of Dublin are as rich and tangible today as 110 years ago when the book first appeared (another anniversary!) They are a gift to the storytelling performer which is how I suppose I describe myself. The warm reception was crowned by the full house rising to sing me a Happy Birthday. There was cake and wine in the bar afterwards, but we took it easy as the following evening would see a livestreamed performance of “The Dubliners Dilemma” from the Annette Studio in Toronto. Among those attending the Ottawa show was former RTE producer John P. Kelly who lives now in Ottawa. John produced my only ever radio drama in 1987!

The Toronto event was hosted by the Alive Poets Society, of which my cousin Sean is an active member.

There was barely time after our six-hour train trip to dust down before a super-fast tech in the intimate and charming Westend jazz studio. Seanie, his wife Monique and poet accomplice Billy Heffernan had ensured that all the required stage furniture was in place, including a wonderfully elevated antique table on a wooden box for sightlines. I have seldom enjoyed a live show so much and the international audience was with the work all the way. A few contacts in Canada and USA who knew about it tuned in to the live stream, and messages of appreciation trickled in overnight. The evening continued with a perfectly curated selection of spoken word performances by the poets, and – once again – a song and a cake for what was my actual birth date, 14^th June. The audience included Paul Farrelly a venerable stalwart of Irish and Joycean culture in Canada and – out of the blue – Dublin theatre director Alan Kinsella, an old pal and peer with whom Sharon and I had lost contact, now domiciled in Toronto.

Saturday was another R&R day, spent mainly chilling in the revamped Distillery Quarter with live outdoor jazz, cool cafes and bars. Then, on Bloomsday, we moved on to the final show, a matinee in the unlikely but wonderfully hospitable Corktown Pub in the industrial steel town of Hamilton. Ann Gorman McKinney had done sterling PR work and they came from far and wide, many travelling over two hours to hear the words of James Joyce in this tucked-away haven of traditional Irish culture. I made a short thank you speech after the Hamilton performance, reiterating remarks I made in Toronto. My father’s brother Sean (deceased) had been very active in Toronto Irish circles. He was particularly supportive of music, so much so that after he died, the Toronto branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann was co-named the Gorman-Langan branch, honouring both Sean, for his organisational drive, and the great Chris Langan, a renowned maker and player of the uileann pipes. I was genuinely moved to thank the assembled musicians and singers for that honour. A suitably lively séisiún ensued, led by maestro John O’Gorman (no relation!) and crowned by Sharon’s wonderful Kimmage rendition of Molly Malone!

Our last full day was spent getting soaked and giddy on a tour boat under the magnificent Niagara Falls; followed by an all too brief visit to the pretty town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, home of the Shaw Festival, and a final meal with extended family on the hot evening terrace of a restaurant ovelooking Lake Ontario. After dinner I waded out and took a souvenir oval stone from the lake bed. I am looking at it fondly here on my desk now, a week and an ocean-crossing since, beside a few pebbles from my local Skerries beach, as I conclude this happy personal essay of a frantic but fabulous working vacation in the beautiful country of Canada.

Photos courtesy of Lensmen (Dublin); The James Joyce Centre (Dublin); The James Joyce Association of Ottawa; Don Cummer; Ann Gorman McKinney and Sharon Cromwell