Events Calendar

Dancing in the Wake: based on the life of Lucia Joyce, daughter of James Joyce

A play by Jan Bolwell

Dancing in the Wake tells the lively and ultimately tragic story of an extraordinary and talented young woman who grew up in the shadow of her famous father, James Joyce.

Bolwell recreates the gaiety and creative fervour of 1920s Paris where Lucia trains to be a dancer at the studio of Isadora and Raymond Duncan, and aspires to join the famous performer, Josephine Baker in her show ‘La Revue Nègre’.

The play blends drama, dance and music to tell Lucia’s story – diagnosed in her mid-twenties with schizophrenia – supported by her friend and troubled lover, the playwright Samuel Beckett, and having to struggle with the differing views of her parents, James Joyce and Nora Barnacle, on the state of her health.

Bolwell describes Dancing in the Wake as “…an exploration of what can happen to the talented child of a very famous parent in struggling for recognition and a sense of identity. Was her illness caused by this or did it compound the problem?”

Arts On Tour NZ is proud to tour this production, which opened to critical acclaim at the 2012 Wellington Fringe Festival.

Dancing in the Wake has a cast of three:

Jan Bolwell (director, Crows Feet Dance Collective) plays both old and young Lucia

Sacha Copland (director & choreographer, Java Dance Company) dances young Lucia

John Smythe (actor, writer & theatre critic) plays Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and Carl Jung.

What critic Claire O’Neil has said about Dancing in the Wake

“Bolwell's performance is formidable as she bubbles with the 'unhinged folly' within Lucia one minute, then transforms herself as the constrained and overly worried wife and mother, Nora Joyce....."

"John Smythe, who plays Joyce, Jung and Beckett, shines with aplomb and comfort as he switches roles..... and manages to bring us closer to a Beckett that we have never met.'

"But perhaps the most thrilling component in the play is the pivotal role of the young Lucia, played by Sacha Copland. ........ we see many flavours of the character and her struggles, and the wonderful talents of the dancer/actress herself....”

$20 Book: Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown.

Location

Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall

33 Buckingham St , Arrowtown