The ruins of St. Mary's
Friday, October 14
The site specific nature of THE LULU HOUSE, a production set in the James Joyce House, the setting for his short story THE DEAD, prompted a lively discussion at our Friday TalkBack. The usual relationship between audience and actors was completely changed as we trooped upstairs and down, from room to room, for each scene of the multi-media work which featured, film, dance, and live performance.
The piece, inspired by Wedekind’s Lulu plays and GW Pabst’s brilliant film PANDORA’S BOX, starring Louise Brooks as Lulu, explores the many facets of obsession. The audience members become detectives trying to contextualize clues imbedded in the events unfolding before us — a story that shares elements with John Fowles THE COLLECTOR. As the title implies, THE LULU HOUSE, like a fun house or haunted house, is the place where the Lulu event takes place — and we will make discoveries that force us to keep rethinking the true nature of the event we are witnessing.
After the talk-back, we took the DART train up to Howth, a charming fishing village nestled at the north end of Dublin Bay. On our stroll down the quay to look at the fishing boats, we were rewarded with a glimpse of one of the harbor seals.
In Irish myth, seals may be selkies. A female Selkie is able to discard her seal skin and come ashore as a beautiful maiden. If a human can capture her skin, the selkie is forced to become a fine, if wistful, wife. However, should she ever find her skin, she immediately returns to the sea, leaving her husband to pine and die.
After a superb quayside lunch at Ivan’s, featuring the freshest oysters, chowder, sea food and an excellent white wine, we set about exploring the town. The ruins of St. Mary’s, a 14th century church were especially picturesque, while the grounds of the Martello Tower provided an excellent view of the entire harbor.
Walking the length of the windswept breakwater quay overlooking the Irish sea left some of us with the urge to put out to sea in one of the many small sailing yachts moored in the harbor. Instead, we took the DART back to Dublin with prospect of a stimulating evening of theatre in front of us — the world premiere production of Colm Toibin’s TESTAMENT, directed by Tony and Olivier Award winning director Garry Hynes.
