OBSERVER: Carnival of Vice


Bloomsday in Melbourne presents Circe’s Carnival of Vice from June 11-22 at fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
Directed by Wayne Pearn, Circe’s Carnival of Vice explores the fever-dream world of Monto, Dublin’s notorious red-light district, inviting audiences to experience a daring and provocative new play inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses.
This original production reimagines Joyce’s ‘Circe’ episode as a surreal, comic and subversive response to the sexologists of his day—those boldly redefining ‘normal’ sexuality.
Blending bawdy pantomime with biting critique, the play is said to be ‘a playful yet pointed exploration of enchantment, desire, power, and gender.’
“As Joyce revised this episode in Paris in 1920,” explains Artistic Director Frances Devlin-Glass, “amused but undaunted by the Purity Snoopers and the objections of even his literary agent Ezra Pound, he pushed literary boundaries with joyful defiance.
“Circe is a tour de force—comic, grotesque, and courageous. Good taste is emphatically off the table.”
Director Wayne Pearn says:“I’m astonished by Joyce’s range—from teasing pantomime and surreal gender-bending to the apocalyptic. He never loses sight of the ordinary rigours of love and the looming threat of loss. It’s wild, funny, and deeply human.”
This year’s Bloomsday Festival also includes the annual Bloomsday lunch and seminar on Saturday June 14 from 10.30am at the Swiss Club of Victoria, 89 Flinders Lane (just a few metres from the theatre).
Bloomsday in Melbourne is a long-running Australian collective dedicated to celebrating the work of James Joyce, particularly his landmark novel Ulysses.
Since 1994, the group has staged annual theatrical productions around June 16 – Bloomsday – to mark the date in 1904 on which the novel’s events unfold in Dublin.
Throughout the year, Bloomsday in Melbourne also presents literary events, public readings, and educational programs.
Performance Details:June 11 – 22
Venue: fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Tickets available via fortyfivedownstairs.com/event/circes-carnival-of-vice/
More info: www.bloomsdayinmelbourne.org.au
Cheryl Threadgold