The Centering of Molly Bloom: Prioritizing “Penelope” in Dermot Bolger’s Adaptation of Ulysses

Abstract: This essay assesses the impact of Dermot Bolger’s stage adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses , arguing that while it is a much condensed and re-organized treatment, it is by no means without concern for the intricacy of the source text. On the contrary, Bolger proves equal to the task of keeping up with the games and traps Joyce set in Ulysses without explicitly replicating them. This is most evident in the way the adaptation approaches Molly Bloom, whose infamous episode “Penelope” is not presented as it is in Joyce’s text. Rather, her monologue is divided into sections for her to deliver throughout the play, where she dictates what parts of Bloomsday the audience will see next. In so doing, Bolger centers and makes accessible one of the most elusive characters in modernist literature. By making prominent what the literary audience only receives in bits and pieces until the very end of the book and contending with a century-long history of engagement with this character, I argue that Bolger achieves a feat as radical and experimental as the original text itself.