Bloomsday in Melbourne

Bloomsday in Melbourne celebrates the centenary of the publication of James Joyce's 'Ulysses' with two major events and a smorgasbord of other events:
i) the world première of a feature film, 'Love's Bitter Mystery' on 4 June at 5:00 pm at the Rivoli Cinemas (available for streaming after that),
and
ii) the stage première of 'Yes I will Yes! An extravagance of Molly Blooms', a free adaptation of the much-loved Molly Bloom episode of 'Ulysses',' at The MC Showroom in Prahran.
There will also a be Seminar on Joyce's takes on Divorce and Women - with Prof. Peter Kuch and Assoc. Prof. Frances Devlin-Glass, and the annual Bloomsday Dinner, and later in the year, on 8 October, a Variety Concert, 'The Joyce of Music' at Boroondara Arts Centre.

'Love's Bitter Mystery' is an immersive, neo-gothic biopic that takes you into the creative mind of James Joyce during the most transformative year of his life, 1903-4, and dramatises how he used (and changed) episodes from his own life in his famously controversial novel 'Ulysses'. Written by Steve Carey, it draws on both biographies of Joyce and his fiction to enrich the biographical narrative. It is Directed by Carly Wilding and filmed by Jak Scanlon, and is set in Kew's Villa Alba, a little known architectural masterpiece and a boom mansion.

'Yes I will Yes!' by the team of Bloomsday scriptwriters Frances Devlin-Glass, Philip Harvey and Roz Hames, and directed by Carl Whiteside, gives us the uncensored, funny, vulgar, outrageous mindscape of Molly Bloom. She is all woman and has spent the afternoon romping with a rampant cad, Blazes Boylan. She’s provocative, emphatically narcissistic in relation to her body, driven in pursuing her sexual goals, and contradictory. Now she must choose. Will she opt for the rich adulterer with a rose between his teeth, who is also a vicious slapper of women’s backsides? Or the comfortable, all-too-familiar husband of 16 years? Or perhaps some other future altogether? Maybe an Australian one?

More information on all Bloomsday events at http://www.bloomsdayinmelbourne.org.au