James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. Building on a rich history of staging modernist works—Gatz, The Sound and the Fury, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)—Elevator Repair Service braves the Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature. Seven performers sit down for a sober reading but soon find themselves guzzling pints, getting in brawls, and committing debaucheries as they careen on a fast-forward tour through Joyce’s funhouse of styles. With humor, pathos, and a richly layered design, ERS stitches together verbatim passages from Joyce’s epic masterpiece into a two-and-a-half hour tour de force. 

Note: This performance contains periodic fog, bright lights, and loud sound effects.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Elevator Repair Service (ERS) is a New York City–based company that creates original works for live theater with an ongoing ensemble. The company’s shows are created from a wide range of texts that include found transcripts of trials and debates, literature, classical dramas, and new plays. Founded in 1991, ERS has created an extensive body of work, which has earned the company a loyal following and made it one of New York’s most highly acclaimed experimental theater companies.The company is best known for Gatz, its award-winning verbatim staging of the entire text of The Great Gatsby. ERS has received numerous awards and distinctions, including Lortel Awards, a Bessie Award, and an OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship and Doris Duke Performing Artist Award for Artistic Director John Collins.

CREDITS

FUNDING + SUPPORT

Ulysses was commissioned by and received its world premiere at the Fisher Center at Bard in June 2024. Major commissioning and development support was provided by the T.S. Eliot Foundation and Fisher Center LAB, which receives funding from members of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and additional funding from The William and Lia G. Poorvu Family Foundation.

This performance by Elevator Repair Service is made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Ulysses was commissioned by and developed at Symphony Space. On June 16, 2022, Symphony Space presented an early iteration of the piece for its annual one-night-only “Bloomsday on Broadway” event.

Elevator Repair Service is also supported with funds from The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Howard Gilman Foundation, The J.M. Kaplan Fund, Jockey Hollow Foundation, the Lehoczky Escobar Family, Lucille Lortel Foundation, The O’Grady Foundation, Scherman Foundation, Select Equity Group Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.

Elevator Repair Service is a member of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York.

The Public Theater is supported by The Shubert Foundation Inc., Howard Gilman Foundation, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, jetBlue Airways, and American Express.

Additional support provided by The Ruth Easton Fund of the Edelstein Family Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Brooks Brothers, NYC Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and Wegmans.

SOCIALS