At Home and Abroad

Richard Harte Finnegan's Wake. Part 2, written by James Joyce | read by Richard Harte | directed by Adam Seelig | filmed live in Toronto at Noonan’s Irish Pub and environs | From 2023-2029, one little goat will film all 17 chapters (30 hours) of Joyce’s Finnegans wake before live audiences in various cities and locations. The company will screen and release each chapter, completing the entire book in time for the 90th anniversary of its publication, May 4, 2029 As of March 2024: Chapters 1 and 2 screened and will screen at film festivals in Dublin and Toronto; Chapters 3 and 4 are in post-production; Chapter 5 is in production. Intended to be heard as much as read, Joyce’s 628-page novel is essentially impossible to read, and yet Dublin-born Richard Harte has a remarkable knack for it, partly attributable to his two decades as a leading member of Toronto’s Anna Livia Players, who perform Joyce’s Ulysses annually. In addition to Harte’s reading for an intimate, live audience in Toronto, the film of Chapter 1 includes montages echoing themes in the novel as well as Irish-Canadian singer Kevin Kennedy’s rendition of the “Finnegan’s Wake” folk song.