Theater Review: Elevator Repair Service’s ‘Ulysses’

Ulysses

Elevator Repair Service became renowned for Gatz, a verbatim six-hour production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby at the Public Theater. The company’s prodigious efforts now include its New York City premiere of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The near three-hour production, directed by John Collins, with co-direction and dramaturgy by Scott Shepherd, ran at the Public Theater until March 1, 2026.

Narrator Scott Shepherd introduces the play with smiling affability. Directly addressing the audience, he states that “not much happens in Ulysses, apart from everything you can possibly imagine.” The novel’s vents happen in the span of a day, beginning precisely at 8am, Thursday June 16, 1904 in Dublin, Ireland.

Before Shepherd dons the character Buck Mulligan, he discusses that in the “spirit of confusion and controversy,” Joyce’s day-in-the-life of three characters will be read with cuts in the text. The cast dramatizes the cuts by “fast-forwarding” over the narrative. Cleverly, Collins and the creative team effect this with movement. Ben Williams’ design replicates the sound of a tape spinning forward.

These segments are humorous and telling. Unfortunately, the cuts diminish the detail and depths of character Joyce thought vital for drawing his parallel of Dublin figures with the most important characters of the Odyssey. These include home-returning hero Odysseus, his long-suffering wife Penelope, and their warrior son Telemachus.

From a Reading to a Costumed Production

After Shepherd’s introduction, Ulysses moves from a sedentary reading into a fully staged and costumed production. It progresses through the day’s events, principally following Stephen Dedalus (Chisopher-Rashee Sevenson), who represents Telemachus, Leopold Bloom (Vin Knight), representing Odysseus, and Molly Bloom (Maggie Hoffman) representing Penelope.

The events illuminate these characters, the cast superbly theatricalizing the novel’s humor and whimsy. Some scenes realize Joyce’s playfulness better than others. For example, the scene where Bloom faces his deepest anxieties shows Knight’s Bloom giving birth to “eight male yellow and white children.” Director Collins hysterically stages Bloom’s “labor” with Knight in the birthing position, as Shepherd “catches” eight baby dolls he then throws to attending cast members.

What We Understand in This Dramatization

As costumes and props are added to the staging, we understand Leopold Bloom’s persecution as an outsider and a Jew. Also, we note Stephen Dedalus as the writer/poet outsider who eventually joins father figure Bloom at his home, until Dedalus leaves to wander the night alone. Stevenson portrays the young Dedalus, a teacher whose unworthy friends lead him to drink and misdirection. Dedalus grieves his recently deceased mother and toward the end of the play has a nightmare visitation by her judgmental ghost.

For those familiar with the novel, the cast becomes outsized in rendering the Dubliners that Bloom and Dedalus encounter. The dramatization is entertaining. We identify with Bloom as an Everyman antihero, who tries to get through the day in peace. However much he tries, he carries with him the knowledge that his wife Molly is cuckolding him. Somehow, Bloom has discovered that his singer wife will meet with Blazes Boylan, her manager, at 4pm that afternoon in their marriage bed. On his journey through the day he avoids confronting Boylan.

Molly Bloom Seems the Opposite of Penelope

The ironic anti-parallel to the Odyssey, on the one hand, is that Molly Bloom appears as the antithesis of Penelope who physically remains loyal to Odysseus. On the other hand, late at night as Bloom sleeps, we understand that Molly still loves Bloom. Indeed, she demonstrates her emotional loyalty in her stream-of-consciousness monologue, seductively delivered by Hoffman. During her feverish remembrance Molly arouses herself thinking of an intimate time with Bloom when they were first together. Poetically, she recalls transferring a seed-cake from her mouth to his, sensually expressing her love.

Collins’ humorous, lusty staging becomes a profound revelation. It defines why Molly has been present in Bloom’s consciousness throughout his journey, until he eventually finds his way home to her bed later that evening.

Those unfamiliar with Joyce’s novel may find the events a muddled hodgepodge. It clarifies, then becomes opaque, like a light switch turning on and off. Characters swap places with each other as seven actors take on various parts in a sometimes confusing array.

Holding Our Interest

Only Bloom, Dedalus, and Molly stand out, true to Joyce’s vision for Ulysses. They embody the author’s themes about life. Bloom and Dedalus move through the day with flashes of brilliance, revelation, connection, irony and dread. And Molly Bloom in her concluding monologue puts a capstone on the vitality and beauty of a woman’s perspective. She thrills us as she experiences the sensuality and power of love for Bloom through reminiscence.

Enver Chakartash’s costume design reflects the time period with a fanciful modernist flourish that gives humor and depth to the characters’ personalities. For example, Boylan (Scott Shepard) wears a straw hat, outrageous wig and light suit that aligns with his confidence. The scenic design by DOTS is minimalist and functional as are Marika Kent’s lighting design and Mathew Deinhart’s projection design. Most outstanding is Ben Williams’ acute, specific sound design which brings the scenes to life with humor.

By the conclusion the audience is spent, having followed the challenge of recognizing Joyce’s parallels to the Odyssey. Elevator Repair Service has elucidated the novel beyond what one might understand reading it on one’s own. Importantly, they’ve made Ulysses an experience to marvel at.

Ulysses ran at the Public Theater through March 1, 2026.