The New Theatre presents Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom.
A daring theatrical journey into the mind and heart of James Joyce’s most sensual hero – a woman of women, a soul of souls, the indomitable Molly Bloom.
It is Ireland in the early hours of June 17th, 1904. Molly Bloom’s husband – the philandering Leopold “Poldy” Bloom – has just come home and fallen asleep in their Dublin row house. Molly – a daughter, a mother, a lover, and a long-suffering wife – patrols the pathways of her wild and leaping consciousness. She is lustful. Scared. Exuberant. Heartbreakingly lonely. Vivaciously reckless. And profoundly funny.
With an empty nest, an unfulfilling affair, and a marriage long past its prime, Molly contemplates the love that she and Bloom once shared. Her unsentimental stream of consciousness is a song of songs that reaches backward and forward across the centuries. Molly seeks to reanimate that love of Bloom and ends up discovering herself – as a woman seeking purpose and a desire to be relevant, even after that love is over and her children are gone. Through reflection, Dublin becomes Gibraltar, age becomes youth, and a small room in Ireland becomes the world.
A beautiful and honest reflection of Molly’s life, written by James Joyce, adapted for the stage by Aedín Moloney and Colum McCann, with original music by Paddy Moloney (Founder and Leader of The Chieftains), Aedín Moloney’s one-woman performance is a tribute to the enduring mysteries of loss and love – and the affirmation found, yes, in between. It also considers, as Joyce does, a time in which a woman’s life and choices in Dublin were shaped more fully by a man. Yes!
Reflections of Molly Bloom had it’s world premiere in New York at The Irish Repertory Theatre in the summer of 2019, directed by Kira Simring. A second production directed by Aedin Moloney was created for Irish Rep Online, during the COVID-19 shutdown, as a Performance on Screen . It was restaged once more in 2022 by the Rep and this time directed by John Keating. Aedin has also toured with her performance throughout Europe, including two sold out performances at The Centre Culturel Irlandais.
Supported by the Arts Council, Dublin City of Literature UNESCO, and friends of The New Theatre.
