The Ulysses broadcast began on 16 June 1982 (Bloomsday) when the Irish state broadcaster, RTÉ Radio, transmitted an uninterrupted 30-hour dramatised radio performance, by 33 actors of the RTÉ Players, of the entire text of James Joyce's epic 1922 novel, Ulysses, to commemorate the centenary of the author's birth (born 2 February 1882).1982 Recordings. RTÉ. Retrieved: 2010-09-12. The broadcast began at 6.30am and continued until midday the next day. It was carried by live relay internationally,Cue the magical music of memory, Irish Times. Retrieved: 2010-09-12. and it won a Jacob's Broadcasting Award in recognition of its achievement.
Writing in The Spectator, John Phipps said, "I can't praise it enough. It is a masterpiece, a rare, enduring example of radio drama as art" and "The RTÉ players give performances of great clarity and insight."
The full 30-hour broadcast was repeated for the first time in 38 years on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra on 16 June 2020, beginning at 8am. The decision to repeat the transmission was influenced by the death in January of that year of Joyce's grandson and literary estate executor, Stephen Joyce, and by the quarantine introduced in Ireland to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.Ulysses on the radio: a 29-hour epic is released from the archives to mark Bloomsday Irish Independent, 2020-06-14. It was broadcast once again on the 120th anniversary of Bloomsday on Radio 1 Extra on 16 June 2024.Ulysses broadcast, RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, 2024-06-16.
The novel Ulysses contains about 265,000 words from a vocabulary of 30,030 words.Analyzing Ulysses by Avinash Vora, 2008-10-20. Retrieved: 2010-09-12. This record-breaking and historicFair City actor Brendan Cauldwell dies at 83. Irish Independent, 2006-01-13. Retrieved: 2010-09-12. live literary broadcast was originally released to the public, after the broadcast, as a recording on 20 audio cassettes in 1982Library catalogue entry. UCD. Retrieved: 2010-09-12. and later digitally remastered on compact disc in two formats: as a 32-CD boxed set, and as a three-CD set of MP3 audio files, released in 2004 (OCLC 315482641 and 605276262).Reading Ulysses. RTÉ. Retrieved: 2010-09-12.
Track listing (MP3 version)
Disc 1 Length 9:57:05 Track Episode Time 01 Telemachus 45:52 02Nestor 32:26 03Proteus 48:07 04Calypso 45:44 05Lotus Eaters 42:25 06Hades 1:08:58 07Aeolus 1:07:59 08Lestrygonians 1 52:06 09Lestrygonians 2 31:45 10Scylla and Charybdis 1 56:11 11Scylla and Charybdis 2 20:14 12Wandering Rocks 1 1:01:06 13Wandering Rocks 2 24:12
Disc 2 Length 10:02:29 Track Episode Time 14 Sirens 1 1:10:04 15Sirens 2 27:08 16Cyclops 1 1:02:11 17Cyclops 2 1:11:08 18Nausicaa 1 58:34 19Nausicaa 2 45:15 20Oxen of the Sun 1 57:13 21Oxen of the Sun 2 1:03:10 22Oxen of the Sun 3 20:06 23Circe 1 1:07:56 24Circe 2 59:44
Disc 3 Length 9:45:21 Track Episode Time 25 Circe 3 1:09:00 26Circe 4 1:01:19 27Circe 5 30:53 28Eumaeus 1 1:01:14 29Eumaeus 2 1:11:34 30Ithaca 1 55:05 31Ithaca 2 58:39 32Ithaca 3 42:43 33Penelope 1 59:08 34Penelope 2 54:46 35Penelope 3 21:00 Total length 29:44:55
Broadcast personnel (the RTÉ Players)
Narrators Cast list. RTÉ. Retrieved: 2010-09-12. Conor Farrington Peter Dix Brendan Cauldwell Aiden Grennell Tomas Studley Deirdre O'Meara
Cast Leopold Bloom – Ronnie Walsh Molly Bloom – Pegg Monahan Stephen Dedalus – Patrick Dawson Buck Mulligan – Gerry McArdle Mr. Deasy – Brendan Cauldwell Myles Crawford – Seamus Forde Bantam Lyons – Jim Reid Simon Dedalus – Eamon Keane Haines – Laurence Foster Miss Douce – Colette Proctor Miss Kennedy – Barbara McCaughey Nosy Flynn – Gerald Fitzmahony Ben Dollard – Breandán Ó Dúill Ned Lambert – Denis Staunton W.B. Murphy – Liam O'Callaghan Cyril Sargent – Brendan Conroy Colm – Colm Hefferon Zoe Higgins – Marcella O'Riordan Bella Cohen – Eileen Colgan John Henry Menton – Eoin White The Nymph – Cathryn Brennan Virag – Christopher Casson Old Gummy Granny – Neasa Ní Annracháin Stephen's Mother – Joan Plunkett Mrs. Yelverton-Barry – Daphne Carroll Cissy Caffrey – Kate Minogue Alf Bergin – Joe Taylor The Gaffer – Ivan Hanly
Production personnel Text Consultant – Roland McHugh Sound Supervision – Marcus Mac Donald Executive Producer – Micheál Ó hAodha Director – William Styles
References
External links Photograph of actors at recording Ulysses audiobook: the entire recording The entire recording in 18 parts at RTÉ Culture 2020 re-release of the entire recording