By Matthew Wexler
At over 700 pages, James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses is the Mt. Everest of 20th-century literature. Spanning 18 episodes, a breadth of writing styles, and enough hidden gems to stump Jeopardy! winner Brad Rutter, Joyce allegedly said that the novel would keep academics busy for centuries arguing about what he meant. And now theatergoers.
Created by Elevator Repair Service (ERS) and co-presented by The Public Theater and Under the Radar Festival (the U.S.’s largest theater festival), the adaptation relies on a substantially abridged text and modest interjections to follow a day in the life of Leopold Bloom (Vin Knight), an advertising salesman in Dublin circa 1904.
Bloom crosses paths with Stephen Dedalus (Christopher-Rashee Stevenson), a teacher and aspiring writer, and an array of characters, before finally returning home in the wee hours of the morning and settling into slumber with his wife, Molly (Maggie Hoffman), the bed still warm and imprinted with the impression of her recently departed lover.
Adapting the unadaptable: Elevator Repair Service’s gamble
Ulysses—on the page or stage—isn’t for the intellectually fatigued or those not well-caffeinated. Compacted into a brisk two hours and forty minutes, co-directors John Collins and Scott Shepherd and their creative team employ a bevy of props, projections, and screeching sound cues (courtesy of Ben Williams) to indicate the passage of time.
Recurring themes ranging from anti-Semitism and nationalism to repressed sexuality appear throughout Joyce’s text. The seven-person ensemble undertakes dozens of roles, and while plenty of captivating moments surface, the whole fails to be greater than the sum of the parts.
Still, for those who crave New York City’s downtown theater scene with experimental companies like Mabou Mines, The Wooster Group, and La Mama, ERS continues to push boundaries, asking audiences to lean in, furrow their brow, and come along for the ride, even if we’re not sure where it’s headed.
3 out of 5 stars
It wants better content.
Fast facts: ‘Ulysses’
Elevator Repair Service’s Ulysses offers captivating moments for experimental theater devotees, even if Joyce’s masterwork doesn’t fully transcend from page to stage.
- The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, New York City
- Running time: Two hours and 45 minutes with one intermission
- Performances through March 1, 2026
Find the best hotels in New York City near the Public Theater
Have another minute?
Broadway: Why audiences can’t stop obsessing over ‘Oh, Mary!’ & its rotating roster of stars
Books: Can you grieve a brother and a country at the same time? Novelist Brenda Navarro says yes
Culture: Inside the French museum where Marie Antoinette’s last luxury still lingers
