If you could go back in time and give your former self advice, what would you say?
Robert and Cait, the subjects of Heartland Theatre Company’s latest play, get that chance. As the second production of the season, Heartland presents Steven Dietz’s 2015 play, “Bloomsday,” through Nov. 18 in Normal.
“Bloomsday” is set in the present—and the past. Robbie (Christos-Leo Sirigas) and Caithleen (Courtney Monier) are 1980s 20-somethings whose spend a single, star-crossed day together in Dublin. Robert (Mark de Veer) and Cait (Helen Engelbrecht) return to the scene of their meet-cute 35 years later to reflect on what is, what was and what might have been.
Think “The Notebook” meets “Quantum Leap.”
Director Sandra Zielinski, a familiar face at Heartland Theatre, was drawn to the challenge “Bloomsday” provides in presenting two time periods—and perhaps a third in the liminal space between past and present—on a single set.
“I read ‘Bloomsday,’ and I thought, ‘What is this about?’” she said. “What is this with time shifting and people from other eras coming in contact?”
Robert and Cait are not apparitions, exactly. They are fully-fleshed humans somehow capable of not just visiting their shared past—Ghost of Christmas Past style—but interacting with it. Zielinski has the actors step out from the action to address the audience as a way to track which moments are real and which are perceived as the action waxes and wanes between person-to-person dialog and internal monologues.
“Plus, you have to have actors who will commit to that,” Zielinski said. “I have actors who committed to it right off the bat. …It was quite natural for them to see there’s a skip in time—or we’re not in any time. It’s really intricately woven into the text, but they got it right away.”
Additional context clues (thanks to costume and props designers Melissa Hall Reynolds and Evan Fischer) delineate eras: Sirigas dons polyester trousers and an unadorned letterman jacket. He carries an old-school point-and-shoot camera and navigates the streets of Dublin by paper map. De Veer as the elder of the Robbie/Robert pair is more ambiguously dressed in 21st century ivy, his shirt untucked as a nod to his younger rough and tumble self. The action takes place on John Stark’s largely static set that hints at Dublin’s cobblestoned streets and 19th century buildings—all largely unchanged today.
“Bloomsday” is inspired by James Joyce’s epic novel “Ulysses,” which sparked the June 16 Bloomsday holiday in Dublin named after protagonist Leopold Bloom. Joyce is, of course, a national treasure in Ireland. And his books are nearly impossible to read.
To be clear, “Bloomsday” is not a re-telling of “Ulysses.” You don’t need to have liked it or even read it to get inside “Bloomsday.” And Dietz’s script simultaneously reveres and admonishes the notoriously difficult text:
“Molly Bloom is the hero of that book,” Caithleen tells Robert in “Bloomsday’s” opening scene.
“Are you kidding? The hero of 'Ulysses' is the reader! Whoever can make the great slog to the end," says Robert.
Joyce is synonymous with Ireland, but Dietz has said “Bloomsday” is more about time than a particular place—and whether the decisions we make one moment lead to regret in the next.
“In my life, almost every 10 years there was some kind of an upheaval,” Zielinski said. “I can look over my 50, 60 years (of adulthood) and notice time shift. A decision I made when I was 25 affected me when I was 35. My decisions came out later on in my life and I could see it. There are certain moments that we change.”
“Bloomsday” is first and foremost a feast for hopeless romantics who believe in the idea that soulmates exist—whether or not they end up together.
“It’s delightful,” said Zielinski. “There’s laughter. There’s joy. Falling in love. Making wrong decisions. Making some right decisions. Yes, do come and see the show.”
“Bloomsday” runs through Nov. 18 at Heartland Theatre, 1110 Douglas St., Normal. Tickets are $19 at 309-452-8709 and heartlandtheatre.org.
