UCD Celebrates Ulysses100 with Re: Joyce - A Life in the Day
To mark the centenary of Ulysses, UCD Arts and Humanities and UCD School of English, Drama & Film have teamed up to create the short film ‘Re: Joyce A Life in the Day’, to honour James Joyce, the university’s most famous graduate. The film’s aim is to share with viewers, across the world, how Joyce’s spirit lives on in Belfield today. It celebrates the links between UCD’s current dynamic and diverse student population and James Joyce, who, from 1898-1902, studied English, Italian and French at University College (Dublin), then based in Newman House, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.
In this centenary year of the publication of Ulysses, we wanted to bring these Joycean connections to life in a visual, creative, unexpected and thoughtful way. As such, the short film focuses on our protagonist Leo, and an imagined day in her life at UCD. She is on a deadline to complete an essay about James Joyce and moves through a play in the DramSoc Theatre, a lecture, the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), all part of her research for the looming deadline. Leo’s journey takes her to UCD’s Special Collections in the James Joyce Library, where she uncovers an archival letter from 1904, sent by Joyce to Conn Curran, a college friend.
We also see the famous James Joyce Graduation photo at Newman House, from 1902. Both of these are courtesy of the CP Curran/Helen Laird collection with kind permission of Helen Solterer and UCD Library Special Collections. Re: Joyce features a number of excerpts and words from Ulysses and animates them through a compelling mix of spoken word, music, performances and dream sequences, all performed by UCD students. This talented cast comes from a wide range of UCD disciplines - from Arts and Humanities to Science and Law to Business and Psychology - and includes key members of UCD DramSoc, Choral Scholars and UCD Ad Astra performance scholars.
The film is a UCD School of English, Drama & Film and UCD Arts and Humanities partner project, funded by UCD Research (Strategic & Major Initiatives Scheme) and UCD Foundation (Solterer gift), led by Margaret Kelleher and Emer Beesley at UCD, working with Jane Lawrenson and Miriam Fayne at the creative agency Big O. Re: Joyce was directed by Ignas Laugalis, shot on location at Belfield and MoLI in May 2022. Re: Joyce will premiered at the UCD Festival 11 June 2022 and plays at MoLI .
A behind-the-scenes photo exhibition from the set of Re: Joyce is on view in An Cuas in the Newman Building.