Bloomsday/ Yeatsday celebration at the Embassy
Ambassador Dan Mulhall and his wife Greta hosted at a Bloomsday/Yeatsday Breakfast at the Embassy, in celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses & the 150th anniversary of the birth of W.B. Yeats, with songs & readings from Joyce & Yeats. Offal wasn’t obligatory but delicious Irish sausages, soda bread and Clonakility black pudding were on the menu!
A series of readings and songs by the array of actors, broadcasters and musicians made for a very a memorable morning. The event celebrated this important day in Irish literature and this year it was combined with a salute to the work of W B Yeats, as the 150th anniversary of his birth is being marked. Ireland’s Ambassador to Britain, Dan Mulhall started proceeding with a lively reading from the Cyclops chapter in Ulysses. A special rendition of Yeats’s ‘Down by the Salley Gardens’ was performed by Cerys Matthews who proclaimed her love of Irish culture and Tamsin Greig highlighted her deep connection with Ireland, as she grew up in Kilburn! Angeline Ball brought a fitting end to any Bloomsday celebrations with Molly Bloom’s Soliloquy.
Ambassador Dan Mulhall, thanking all the artists, said: “W.B. Yeats and James Joyce are two iconic pillars of Ireland's proud literary heritage. Their work is loved over the world and it is fitting that these literary anniversaries are so celebrated. It is fantastic to have such a great group bringing the work of Joyce and Yeats to life here at the Embassy.”
The full line-up and what they performed is below. Londoners will also have an opportunity to see more Yeats as part of Yeats 150 and Irish poetry in the coming weeks as it is featured in the Tube as part of Poems on the Underground.
Bloomsday/Yeatsday Breakfast in celebration of
James Joyce's Ulysses & the 150th anniversary of the birth of W.B. Yeats
Welcome by Ambassador Daniel Mulhall
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Ms. Dáire Halpin – singing Love’s Old Sweet Song, accompanied by Ms. Jean Kelly
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Ambassador Daniel Mulhall – Cyclops
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Ms. Kate O’Toole – Brown Penny
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Mr. Dermot O’Leary – The Stolen Child
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Mr. Frank Grimes – The He And The She Of It
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Ms. Katie McGrath – When You Are Old
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Mr. Colin Salmon – Sailing to Byzantium
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Ms. Cerys Matthews – singing Down by the Salley Gardens
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Mr. Niall Buggy – Gertie McDowell
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Ms. Lisa Dwan – Adam’s Curse
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Ms. Tamsin Greig – No Second Troy
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Ms. Aisling Bea – The Song of Wandering Aengus
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Ms. Angeline Ball – Molly Bloom’s Soliloquy