BLOOMSDAY
The Washington premiere of Bloomsday at Washington Stage Guild is a treasury of wit and wisdom.
A man returns to Dublin after 35 years to revisit his youthful missed connection with a woman who was his tour guide through the path James Joyce’s Leopold Bloom’s wanders in Ulysses. Moving between the past and present, they retrace their steps in their memories.
Playwright Steven Dietz has said that “we carry all ages inside us…our past looks out from the same eyes as our present.” So true is this and so well handled by the four actors, who flow believably between the present and past as their old selves encounter their younger selves. Steven Carpenter is Robert, the older man, who advises his disbelieving younger self, Robbie, played by Josh Adams. Megan Anderson is Cait, her older self, who tells about her life to her younger self. Caithleen, played by Danielle Scott.
At the end, Robert and Cait meet as they have arranged on Bloomsday. Is it romantic or realistic? Or is it both.
At the end, Robert and Cait meet as they have arranged on Bloomsday. Is it romantic or realistic? Or is it both.
The show is just in time for Valentine’s Day for anyone who has a memory of lost love.
Washington Stage Guild, Washington DC, to Feb. 16, 2020