As part of the continuing series of readings from the Dubliners short story collection, members of the James Joyce Association of Ottawa presented “Ivy Day in the Committee Room.” The event began with a few rousing songs from “The Band with No Name” — otherwise known as Phil, Larry, Frank, and Geoff.
As master of ceremonies, Niamh O’Brien gave an overview of some of the themes in the story.
The readers included Susanna Doherty, Eileen Cassidy, Dermot Guinane, and Mary Comerton.
The story deals with the 1902 election for Lord Mayor of Dublin. Campaign workers take shelter from the rain by the fireplace in the committee room. The men are brought together in the fellowship of the fireplace and the bottles of stout, and in the admiration they share for “the Chief,” Charles Stuart Parnell.
The reading of the story was followed by the recitation of three poems dealing with current affairs of the past: W.B. Yeats’ “September 1913,” read by Megan Mullin; Seamus Heaney’s “Whatever You Say, Say Nothing,” read by Michael Mullin; and Eavan Boland’s “My Country in Darkness,” read by Rosemary O’Brien.
