Bloomsday Festival 2026: Dada Deux - A Joycean Cabaret

Kick off celebrations at on Thursday, 11th June at 8.30pm with a Joyce-themed cabaret of readings, performance, music and natter, hosted by author David Collard.

Last year's gathering celebrated Joyce's links to Zürich (where he wrote much of Ulysses) and the anarchic artistic movement known as Dada (which was founded in that city). This year, David returns to the Joyce Centre to host Dada Deux: A Joycean Cabaret. We will be joined by novelist Rónán Hession (aka Mumblin' Deaf Ro), composer David Bremner, soprano Suzanne Savage, and (live via satellite from Venice, California) Joyce enthusiast and polymath Gerry Fialka.

Surprises and beneficial shocks are guaranteed at this informal one-off gathering, with a nod to 1920s Dada cabaret. There will be music, performance, readings, songs, conversation, audience participation -- and maybe a little whiskey. The evening offers a wildly entertaining start to the Bloomsday Festival and will appeal to seasoned Joyceans and newcomers alike. All are welcome!

The Company

David Collard writes for print and online publications including the Times Literary Supplement, Literary Review, 3:AM Magazine, gorse, Exacting Clam, White Review and others. He is the author of (2020) and (2025). He lives in London, where he organises cultish online gatherings that showcase contemporary authors, indie publishers and other creative practitioners. His next book, another collection of 100 essays (but not about Joyce), will appear in June 2027.

David Bremner is a composer and musician from West Cumbria who moved to Ireland in 1999 and who now lectures in composition at the Dublin Conservatoire. With soprano Elizabeth Hilliard he runs the music/text production company Béal. He was Assistant Organist at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin until 2019, and has played with ensembles such as the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, and Opera Theatre Company.

Gerry Fialka is an American experimental filmmaker, curator, lecturer, interviewer and writer. He leads workshops on experimental film, avant-garde music and art, subversive social media, books by James Joyce and Marshall McLuhan’s media theory. He was Frank Zappa’s archivist and production assistant for ten years, and worked for the legendary comedian George Carlin. LA Weekly has described Fialka as a ‘cultural revolutionary.’ He lives in Venice, California where he runs a Finnegans Wake reading group.

Rónán Hession is a writer, musician and civil servant from Dublin. He has published three acclaimed novels: Leonard and Hungry Paul (2019), Panenka (2021) and Ghost Mountain (2024). The first of these was adapted as a six-part BBC television series in 2026. His next novel is Richard Heart Julianne (2027).

Susanne Savage is a Belfast-born singer, songwriter, violinist, and dynamic live performer whose musical journey spans continents and genres. Suzanne toured internationally as Principal Soprano Soloist with Riverdance and has since performed or recorded with major artists such as Paul Brady, Eleanor McEvoy, Roseanne Cash, Van Morrison, Jimmy Cobb, Ernie Watts Quartet, and emerging talents like David Lyttle and Matteo Addabbo. Based in Belfast and Dublin, she is a vital presence on the Irish and European music scenes.

Tickets are €20.

is organised by in partnership with Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.

Cover image: Anne Marie Hantho

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Host or Publisher James Joyce Centre