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The Arts Council Playography Na Gaeilge

Plays

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James Joyce and the Israelites

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Seamus Finnegan 

  • Setting

    Late 19th- and early 20th-century Dublin, as well as locations in Europe.

  • Synopsis

    The play speculates on how Joyce's aesthetic was influenced by his identification with Judaism, with the Joyce character in the play seeing the Wandering Jew as a metaphor for the type of artist-in-exile he would become. The play draws on several real-life experiences of Joyce, and also on the life of a contemporary Jewish family in Dublin, the Kahns. Henry Kahn, who is paralleled with Leopold Bloom in the play, was the subject of a mistrial, which is alluded to in Ulysses, with the anti-Semitic judge in question, Sir Frederick Falkiner, making several appearances in the book, including in a dream where he sentences Bloom to death.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    Full-Length

    • Cast size

  • Male

    4

  • Female

    1

  • Total

    5

  • Cast Notes

    Multiple roles for each peformer

Original Production

  • Date of First Production

    1982

  • Original Venue

    Lyric Hammersmith

  • Venue Notes

    Performed on the Lyric's studio stage

Original Cast  
James Joyce Patrick Waldron
Oscar Schwarz Steve Simmonds
Mark Kahn Steve Simmonds
Cosgrave Steve Simmonds
Amalia Cherith Mellor
Esther Kahn Cherith Mellor
Esther Jacobs Cherith Mellor
Nadia Cherith Mellor
Ottocaro Edward Halstead
Leopold Bloom Edward Halstead
Nathan Edward Halstead
Jacob Edward Halstead
Isaac Edward Halstead
Moses Edward Halstead
Stanislaus James Greene
JF Byrne James Greene
Henry Kahn James Greene
Patrick James Greene
Cantor Steve Simmonds

Published Scripts

  • Title

    James Joyce and the Israelites

  • Year

    1995

  • Published By

    Routeledge

  • Address

    2 Park Square
    Milton Park, Abingdon
    Oxford OX14 4RN
    England

  • Phone

    +44 (0) 20 7017-6000

  • Website

    www.routledge.com

  • ISBN

    978-3718655496

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Rights Information

  • Territory

    All Territories

  • Rights Type

    All Rights

  • Contact

    Micheline Steinberg Associates

  • Address

    Studio 315 ScreenWorks, 22 Highbury Grove
    London N5 2ER
    England

  • Phone

    +44 (0)20 3214 8292

  • Email

    info@steinplays.com

  • Website

    http://www.steinplays.com/

Source Of Information

Information here comes from published script.