Sir, – Your normally thoughtful theatre critic Peter Crawley uses uncharacteristically careless language in his end-of-year arts round-up (“2012: the highs and lows”, December 29th). He bemoans what he calls the “Joyce stampede”. By this he means an upsurge in artistic responses to the works of James Joyce over the course of the 12 months under review.
Irish artists have always been inspired by Joyce’s writings, and stage adaptations of his work are nothing new. The Dublin Theatre Festival presented a version of Dubliners as far back as 1963, adapted by Hugh Leonard. It is true that the lifting of copyright restrictions allowed a greater number of Joyce projects to reach fruition in 2012 than might have been possible in previous years. Most of these were long in gestation and from reputable organisations including the Abbey Theatre and Dublin City Council’s “One City One Book” festival.
Highly regarded artists engaging with Joyce’s work over the year included Olwen Fouéré, Annie Ryan, Katie O’Kelly, Michael West, Dermot Bolger and Frank McGuinness. The effect has been to open out the writings of Joyce to a wider audience, much as recent festivals and celebrations of Beckett, Synge, Friel and Murphy have enhanced appreciation of those writers.
The artists and presenters involved are deserving of a little more appreciation and respect for their undertakings.
It might also be noted that this “stampede” occurred almost exclusively within the small cultural pond that is bounded north, south, east and west by the Dublin Writers Museum, the Gaiety, the Abbey Theatre and the Project Arts Centre.
When our own modest production of The Dubliners Dilemma toured to Drogheda, Galway, Waterford, Thurles, Rush and Wexford this year, we saw no evidence nor heard no complaints of stampedes or upsurges or overkill of Joycean work at all. Rather, our website, Facebook pages and our touring visitor’s book registered dozens of appreciative comments from locals and cultural tourists alike pleased by a rare opportunity to see work by our one of our finest writers. – Yours, etc,