Leah

In Lotus Eaters, as Bloom stands on the corner of Westland Row and Great Brunswick Street scanning the "multicoloured hoardings" posted on a wall, he sees a notice for a theatrical production: "Hello. Leah tonight. Mrs Bandmann Palmer. Like to see her again in that." The production of this powerful 19th century melodrama with a Jewish heroine makes him remember how much his father loved it, which in turn prompts feelings of guilt for abandoning the Jewish faith. Hades finds him thinking that he could go see the play "tonight," which would fit perfectly with the plan he has apparently communicated to Molly, of eating out and going to a show at the Gaiety Theatre. But in Nausicaa he realizes that it is "Too late." In Ithaca he regrets not going, but he tells Molly that he has done so.

John Hunt 2019

Mrs. Millicent Bandmann-Palmer. Source: flickr.com.

Sarah Bernhardt as Leah, in a photograph from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection held in the New York Public Library. Source: digitalcollections.nypl.org.

Kate Bateman as Leah. Source: metropolitanplayhouse.org.