Bloomsday in an English graveyard
KINGSTHORPE Cemetery in Northampton on June 16 will be the venue for a celebration by the Triskellion Theatre Company of Bloomsday, the day that James Joyce set his novel Ulysses.
June 16, 1904 was the day that Leopold Bloom, a Jewish salesman wanders round Dublin capturing a day in the life of Dublin's more marginalised citizens. Joyce's recounting of that fictional dander is generally regarded as one of the foremost literary works in the English language.
Kingsthorpe Cemetery may seem at first to be an odd choice, but this is the last resting place of Lucia Anna Joyce, the only daughter of James Joyce and Nora Barnacle.
Lucia, at one time a talented professional dancer, was born in Trieste where the Joyces lived for some 11 years, and where part of Ulysses was completed.
In the 1920s she had a short relationship with the young Samuel Beckett.
Sadly, Anna's mental health deteriorated over the years — at one time she was treated by Carl Jung in Zurich. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and ultimately remained a patient at St. Andrew's Psychiatric Hospital in Northampton until her death in 1982.
In tribute to Lucia Joyce, two local writers in Northampton have written a play called Letters to Lucia. This will be performed this year at Lucia's graveside by the Triskellion Theatre Company, founded by Gerry Molumby from Thurles in Tipperary.
There will be readings from Ulysses, the folk band the Tim Finnegans will be appearing, along with guest speakers who'll outline the Joycean connection with Northampton. Richard Rose will outline Lucia Joyce's place in Northampton.
Triskellion has been presenting recitals and musical interludes from Ulysses in the cemetery, dressed of course in suitable turn of the century Dublin garb since 2005
Other performers at the Northampton regularly include the local branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and Sean Cannon of the Dubliners.
See More: Bloomsday, James Joyce, Trisxkellion Theatre
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