OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Tom Gallacher 

• Setting

  Trieste, 1900s; Paris, 1939

• Synopsis

  The play's first act concerns James Joyce's time living in Trieste with Nora Barnacle and their children. Despite Joyce's work at a Berlitz school and as a journalist, the family is in poverty and Joyce's brother Stanislaus comes from Dublin to support them. The second act is set in Paris in 1939 as the Germans are advancing and Joyce is about to travel to Zurich.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  5

• Female

  1

• Total

  6

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  16 March 1971

• Original Venue

  Eblana Theatre
  

• Irish Premiere Notes

  The Irish premiere was the first performance of the full work. Part 2 of the play was performed in 1970 at the Basement Theatre Club in London. The Irish premiere was interrupted by a court injunction stemming from a rights dispute (see Irish Times 15/03/1971). The injunction was later lifted, allowing several full performances during the 1971 Dublin Theatre Festival.

Source Of Information

Information here comes from printed script, Dublin Theatre Festival programme and contemporary press.