26th Annual Staged Reading – Bloomsday Celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses

The Wild Geese Players of Seattle join Bloomsday celebrations across the globe honoring Ulysses' author James Joyce. For our 26th annual reading, we’ll present Episode 14, Oxen of the Sun, at 2 pm on Saturday, June 17, 2023 at the Greenwood Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103.

Bloomsday (Bloom’s day, named for Ulysses’ main character, Leopold Bloom) refers to the 24-hour period on June 16, 1904 in which Ulysses is set. Ulysses follows the wanderings of Bloom, a Jewish everyman, and Stephen Dedalus, a young writer and Joyce's alter ego, as they wander the streets of Dublin. In Episode 14 it is 10 pm, and Leopold Bloom visits a maternity hospital, where poor Mina Purefoy is entering her 3rd day of labor. Bloom encounters a group of drunken medical students, who carry on wildly while discussing poor Mrs. Purefoy’s fate.

In this episode, Joyce’s incomparable narrative celebrates the history of the English language through elaborate parodies and structures. At the same time, he reveals much about contemporary attitudes surrounding pregnancy and birth.

Since 1998, The Wild Geese Players of Seattle have presented staged readings of Irish literature, by writers such as James Joyce and W.B. Yeats. The Geese are a diverse group of people who are Irish-born or have Irish connections, who share an interest in Irish literature. We believe that poetry and certain novels are best read aloud, that some works are better heard than read.