Step into the fever-dream world of Monto, Dublin’s notorious red-light district, as Circe’s Carnival of Vice invites audiences to experience a daring and provocative new play inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Presented by Bloomsday in Melbourne and performed at fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne, this original production reimagines Joyce’s “Circe” episode as a surreal, comic and subversive response to the sexologists of his day—those boldly redefining ‘normal’ sexuality. Blending bawdy pantomime with biting critique, the play is a playful yet pointed exploration of enchantment, desire, power, and gender.

“As Joyce revised this episode in Paris in 1920,” explains Artistic Director Frances Devlin-Glass, “amused but undaunted by the Purity Snoopers and the objections of even his literary agent Ezra Pound, he pushed literary boundaries with joyful defiance. Circe is a tour de force—comic, grotesque, and courageous. Good taste is emphatically off the table.”

Director Wayne Pearn adds, “I’m astonished by Joyce’s range—from teasing pantomime and surreal gender-bending to the apocalyptic. He never loses sight of the ordinary rigours of love and the looming threat of loss. It’s wild, funny, and deeply human.”

This year’s Bloomsday Festival also includes the annual Bloomsday lunch and seminar on Saturday 14 June from 10.30am—a not-to-be-missed event for Joyce lovers and curious minds alike.

Bloomsday in Melbourne is proud to present James Joyce-inspired theatre for over 30 years, and to bring the wit and edginess of Joyce’s writing to thousands of Australian theatregoers. This performance of Circe’s Carnival of Vice is set to continue the tradition.