BELFAST'S Linen Hall Library is celebrating the 100th anniversary of James Joyce's Ulysses today via the first instalment of its inaugural Enlightenment Festival.
Linen Hall Library is a custodian of one of the few remaining original copies of Ulysses and, to mark its significant milestone, the Enlightenment Festival has commissioned a filmed reading, I will Yes: Molly's Soliloquy.
Directed by Carol Moore to be streamed online, the piece has been performed by 22 local women from a variety of backgrounds and professions, including actors Stella McCusker, Laura Hughes and Nicky Harley.
Joyce wrote this 18th episode of the book, often referred to as 'Molly Bloom's soliloquy', in May 1921 just as partition was first legislated. While the novel captures a single day in Dublin, Belfast is name-checked in this episode.
"What a pleasure to be working with 22 amazing women from all walks of life and professions in Northern Ireland and directing the film I will Yes: Molly's Soliloquy," says Moore.
"It includes three female actors, historian and author Margaret Ward, Women in Business's Jennifer Cairns, as well as playwrights, visual and performance artists and musicians and representatives from the voluntary and care sectors, including the NHS.
"I'm sure they felt they were jumping into the unknown, as the Molly Bloom soliloquy is challenging even for a seasoned actor. The setting is Molly and Leopold's bed, late at night. Molly is unable to sleep and so her mind wanders, words randomly flowing is a stream of consciousness.
"As a nod to this setting participants dressed in their own dressing gowns, from seductive silks to fluffy pinks and purple, and personalised the space with their photographs, crosses, hot water bottles, phones, iPads and alarm clocks."
Sean Doran and Liam Browne have created the Enlightenment Festival programme, which began yesterday on St Brigid's Day which traditionally signals the 'return of the light' in the Gaelic spring festival Imbolc. The festival aims to 'embrace the spirit of the Enlightenment' to "shine light on ideas, controversial topics and even buildings".
Of today's Ulysses-based event, Sean Doran says: "The noteworthiness of Ulysses coupled with Belfast is that Joyce was acutely conscious of Ireland breaking up when writing the episode in 1921.
"We've chosen the filmed reading to begin where Belfast is mentioned and it is a nice contemporary touch that Molly's bedroom in this instance is a Belfast Air B'n'B. Also contemporary is that we have chosen to highlight the one female episode of the 18 dominated by the two male protagonists, and indeed that was Joyce's vision – a man ahead of his time.
"Joyce is on record as saying, '''Yes" is the most positive word in the human language'. He begins episode 18 with the word 'Yes' and finishes with the word 'Yes'. It's great to have Belfast saying 'Yes': a nod to the city's resilience and optimism."
Other highlights of the Enlightenment Festival will include:
:: An illuminated journey through the Linen Hall created by lighting designer Conleth White, inviting visitors to view the archives through different lighting perspectives.
:: Artist Susan Hughes' Brainwaves, a commissioned abstract, moving image inspired by Norwegian writer Karl One Knausgaard's viewing of a living brain through the scopes of neurosurgeon Henry Marsh.
:: Author Siri Hustvedt in conversation with David Dwan on the mixed legacy she feels the Enlightenment has left us and the relationship between individualism and the contemporary neo-liberal reality.
:: Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama's former aide and confidant, in conversation with Carlo Gebler on his new book After The Fall: Being American in the World We've Made.
:: Scottish classical musicians Janis Kelly (soprano) and Iain Burnside (piano) will perform pieces from two contrasting artistic figures of the European Enlightenment, Robbie Burns and Mozart.
:: Broadcaster, journalist and film-maker Bidisha and lecturer Jonathan Wright will discuss Jean Rhy's 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea in relation to Belfast's role in the anti-slavery movement during the Enlightenment.
:: Playwright and theatre-maker Jo Egan will host a series of Coffee House Conversations where members of the public will be invited to discuss current topics. These talks will form the basis of a final report capturing the opinions, thoughts and concerns of modern times.
"The Linen Hall Library was founded as a direct result of the Enlightenment when men and women from the burgeoning business classes got together to share information and ideas," says Linen Hall director Julie Andrews.
"The Enlightenment Festival reminds us of where the Library came from, but also underlines the need to revisit and review the environment in which we currently reside with a new light of understanding."
:: Full programme information at linenhall.com