A glimpse into literary greats

The Dubliners Dilemma and The Big Fellow, written and directed by Declan Gorman, will be staged to reveal the fascinating lives of James Joyce and Frank O’Connor

November 24, 2017 03:43 pm | Updated November 25, 2017 05:56 pm IST

James Joyce’s works are one of the most difficult to grasp but his literary genius would have never be known had it not been for Grant Richards, his publisher. Playwright and theatre director Declan Gorman brings this lesser known fact to life on stage, though the central character is Richards. Written and performed by Declan, The Dubliners Dilemma is a fascinating story around Joyce’s first book, a a collection of short stories, The Dubliners. “I really like James Joyce,” says Declan over the phone in Delhi, where he recently performed, “but I too struggled with his later works, A portrait of the Artist as a young man , Ulysees and his last book, Finnegans Wake, which, it is said, takes about seven years to read. But the first book I bought when I had left Ireland as a 20-year-old was The Dubliners. I travelled around Europe with that book. It’s fascinating how his works graduated over a lifetime. The Dubliners is well written and constructed, and is a wonderful evocation of Dublin, but the language is fairly straightforward.”

In 2012, the global copyrights on Joyce’s works was released into the public domain, which is when Declan decided to write a play around The Dubliners. “I had earlier decided to work with other actors, but I didn’t have the money at the time and so did a solo performance. The more I wrote the script, the more I fell in love with the story and the more I wanted to perform it on my own”

On the process of writing the play, Declan narrates the fascinating story behind the publication of The Dubliners, making you wonder if he is an academic of some sort, but he laughs that of and says, “I am not a biographer or historian. I am a playwright and director who has been in the theatre for 33 years.” A 22-year-old Joyce wrote The Dubliners in 1905. “Richards, a young, debonair English publisher, liked the book and wanted to publish it. Richards hadn’t read two stories, though, one of them was the Two Gallants, which Joyce insisted he keep since it was important to the book. But when Richards sent it to the printer, he refused to publish it because he thought it was obscene. This was Edwardian society and the book was in breach of Edwardian modern laws, which would be hard to understand according to modern standards.” But Joyce, adds Declan, was adamant the book be published even though he was penniless. “Joyce brought it to 13 other publishers that all refused to publish it on grounds of obscenity.”

Declan adds: “He had written on subjects like prostitution, and another story was about two small boys who run away from school and come to a park where they meet an old man who appears to be a paedophile. But there is nothing that is expressly written, people would understand upon reading the stories.”

But Richards didn’t want the talent of a great writer to go unrecognised. “By 1914 the laws had relaxed a bit and that is how Joyce became a published writer.” In the play, Declan characterises Richards as an Englishman of conscience. “His love of literature won out over his concerns as a businessman.” Declan researched the character of Richards. “I am a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and I still have my library card. There is not much on Richards. He was remembered in a number of scholarly articles and I read up about him from his exchanges with Joyce. I know that he was very handsome, that his wife was his business partner, but they divorced, and he was a natty dresser.” In the play, Declan, apart from depicting Richards and Joyce’s life, will also perform an abbreviated version of three of Joyce’s stories.

The second play The Big Fellow , based by a book by the same name by Frank O’Connor, is Declan’s research conducted to understand the essence of O’Connor’s work. “The book is on the Irish revolutionary, Michael Collins. And there is one line that stayed with me: ‘This has been a labour of love, an act of reparation if you will.’ The word reparation was of interest to me because I was born in the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and grew up amid conflict that lasted many years. I also work as an activist using the arts and theatre with communities who are in conflict.” So Declan decided to read more and dig deeper. When Declan read Frank O’Connor’s autobiography which was published 30 years after The Big Fellow , he got his answers. “There he revealed his own involvement in the Irish civil war and how he was changed by his own experience of the Civil War, where he fought on the opposite side of Collins as a 16-year-old. He reflects to come to the conclusion that he probably chose the wrong side, and thus he wrote a vivid description and glowing account of Collins.” There are two actors Gerard Adlum and Cillian Ó Gairbhí. “Cillian only plays Collins, but Gerard plays O ‘Connor, and comrades of Collins, British people, Irish people on the streets etc. The play traces six years of Collins’ life, but O’Connor continues the story.”

Co-Motion, Ireland and QTP India present the plays at Rangashankara on November 25, The Dubliners Dilemma at 3.30 pm and The Big Fellow at 7.30 pm.

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