As part of the Spoken Word Edition of Dublin’s Fringe FUSE Festival, wherein creative works-in-progress are put through development, myself and five other poets from Dublin’s spoken-word scene, including Trudie Gorman and Emmet O’ Brien, took part in a workshop curated by actor, playwright and spoken-word artist Emmet Kirwan, before performing our pieces live in the Workmans’s Club in Dublin’s City Centre.
Daniel Wade is a poet and playwright from Dublin. In January 2017, his play The Collector opened the 20th anniversary season of the New Theatre, Dublin. His spoken word album Embers and Earth, available for download on iTunes and Spotify, launched the previous October at the National Concert Hall. A prolific performer, Daniel has featured in festivals including Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, Culture Night and the West Belfast Festival. Daniel was the Hennessy New Irish Writing winner for April 2015 in The Irish Times.
For #Bloomsday2019, I'm thrilled to unveil 'Sea State Martello', a short film/visual poem shot and directed by award-winning filmmakers Alan Dunne and James Devlin of Stubborn Monkey Media: www.stubbornmonkeymedia.com
Love him or hate him, James Joyce is a titan of language, and so I wrote "Sea State Martello" to pay tribute both to him and to his seminal masterpiece 'Ulysses'.
Taking its cue from Chapter 1 of the novel, also known as the “Telemachus” episode, 'Sea State Martello" celebrates the unique beauty of Dublin Bay, in particular the nearby seascape of Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Dalkey Island and Sandycove, all of which inspired Joyce's writing.
The film also features a haunting soundtrack composed by uilleann piper Brian O’ Brien (of Riverdance and In Tua Nua fame) accompanying my lyrics.
Many thanks are due to Robert Nicholson, curator of the James Joyce Tower and Museum, for permitting us to film within the tower itself.
The clip can be viewed here: Sea State Martello by Daniel Wade
Credits:
Written and performed by DANIEL WADE
Directed by ALAN DUNNE
Produced By Stubborn Monkey Media
Music by BRIAN O' BRIEN
Thanks to THE JAMES JOYCE TOWER AND MUSEUM/FRIENDS OF JOYCE TOWER SOCIETY/MCKENNA'S DUN LAOGHAIRE