Lawless part of annual pub salute to Irish writer

Lucy Lawless will perform in Auckland's annual Bloomsday, a celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce.

It might be 16 years since Lucy Lawless hung up Xena Warrior Princess's chakram, but still the last place some expect to find her is in an Auckland pub celebrating the life of an Irish literary star and one of his most memorable characters.

Now a UK crew wants footage of our Bloomsday commemoration, held annually to pay homage to author James Joyce, because Lawless is one of its stars. Organiser Dean Parker says they were stunned to hear the TV star makes time to participate.

In the novel Ulysses, a re-telling of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Joyce sends the main character, Leopold Bloom, on a walk around Dublin where he meets a range of intriguing characters.

Joyce set the story on June 16, 1904 because it was the day of his first date with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle. Every June 16, Joyce aficionados - and those who love a good hooley - get together for Bloomsday celebrations.

Countries as diverse as the USA, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Canada, France and Australia hold their own versions of it; New Zealand has had one for about 12 years.

In Auckland, it brings together performers like Michael Hurst, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Lord of the Ring's Bruce Hopkins, musicians Linn Lorkin and Hershal Hersher and The Jews Brothers Band, and Unite Union organiser Joe Carolan who read from the book, sing songs and re-create some of its most famous scenes.

Parker says a UK TV crew contacted him to ask about filming because they want footage of Lawless for a documentary they're making about James Joyce. Now working on a new series, she will come straight from the set to portray the character Stephen(anie) Dedalus, one of those befriended by Bloom in Ulysses, and will perform a song and dance number.

Lorkin and Hersher, who have been involved since Bloomsday came to Auckland, believe we were the first in the world to stage more detailed re-enactments from the book and the first to include Jewish music.

"Dean had the idea because Leopold Bloom is an Irish Jew so he thought, 'let's have a Jewish band'," says Lorkin. "A lot of the celebrations are quite reverential but ours are a little more ... wild. There are often politically-themed jokes which reference things that are going on in New Zealand and around the world."

Songs chosen this year to illustrate the state of the Blooms' marriage include A Fine Romance and The Supremes' Where Did Our Love Go? which gives an idea of how eclectic Auckland's Bloomsday is.

Joyce, considered one of the 20th century's greatest writers, also has a family link to New Zealand. His eldest sister came here in 1909 as Sister Mary Gertrude and joined the Sisters of Mercy. She taught at convents in Greymouth and Christchurch and died in 1964.

Bloomsday is on for one night only tonight at 7.30pm at the Thirsty Dog in Karangahape Rd, Auckland and runs for three hours. Demand means extra chairs are now put out for the more than 200 expected to attend.