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
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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
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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.