Dancing in the Wake by Jan Bolwell
14 Jun 2013 7:30 PM
Dancing in the Wake tells the lively and ultimately tragic story of Lucia Joyce, an extraordinary and talented young woman who grew up in the shadow of her famous father, James Joyce. 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 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’.
Bolwell herself plays both the young and the old Lucia, John Smythe plays Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Carl Jung. Sacha Copland, director and choreographer of Java Dance Company, plays and dances the pivotal role of young Lucia in a performance where “..we see the many flavours of the character and her struggles, and the wonderful talents of the dancer/actress herself” (Clare O’Neil)
Presented by Arts on Tour New Zealand, with funding from Creative New Zealand
Tickets: Adults $25, Seniors & Unwaged $20, Tertiary & Secondary students $10