THEATER; The Woman Joyce's Women Came From

• Published in: The New York times
• Main Authors: Stuart, Jan, Jan Stuart is the former chief drama critic of 7 Days
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y New York Times Company 13.05.1990
• Edition: Late Edition (East Coast)
• Subjects: Freed, Donald; Harris, Julie; Joyce, James; Joyce, Nora; Reilly, Charles Nelson; STUART, JAN; THEATER; NEW HAVEN
• ISSN: 0362-4331

Ms. [Julie Harris] is impersonating [Nora Barnacle Joyce], the wife of the Irish writer James Joyce. When Donald Freed's play ''Is He Still Dead?'' opens this Thursday at the Long Wharf Theater with Ronny Graham as James Joyce, it will add another role to Ms. Harris's gallery of historical women. In the 18 years since ''The Last of Mrs. Lincoln,'' she has stepped into the shoes of Sonia Tolstoy, Leo's wife (in ''The Countess,'' also by Mr. Freed), Charlotte Bronte, Dora Carrington and, perhaps most memorably, Emily Dickinson in ''The Belle of Amherst.'' [Samuel Beckett]'s spirit inhabits ''Is He Still Dead?,'' which the playwright has subtitled ''A Comedy,'' referring to a vaudevillian give-and-take between the Joyces as they attempt to flee Nazi-occupied France in 1940, two months before Joyce died. The tensions fan the flames of an already volatile marriage. Mr. Freed, whose play ''Secret Honor'' takes its premise from ''Krapp's Last Tape'' by Beckett, describes his newest play as ''my reading of 'Waiting for Godot.' '' Ms. Harris and Mr. [Charles Nelson Reilly] first worked together in the Broadway musical ''Skyscraper'' in 1965. Mr. Reilly recalls how his former co-star would ''sit in her dressing room, comb her long hair, smoke her annual cigarette and quote Emily Dickinson. She was gone in another world.'' After seeing her recite Dickinson at a theater benefit later in the run, he urged her to develop the material into a play, which eventually would be written by William Luce. When producers suggested John Houseman as a director, Ms. Harris strongly recommended Mr. Reilly. ''I don't want to work with anyone else,'' says Ms. Harris. ''He makes it like a picnic.'' Despite their relaxed rapport, Mr. Reilly admits to a certain awe for his friend. ''I still feel like I'm an usher in the second balcony of the Empire Theater watching her sit in Ethel Waters's lap,'' he said, a reference to Ms. Harris's role in ''The Member of the Wedding'' in 1950. In rehearsals, Mr. Reilly alternately addresses his star as ''Miss Harris'' and ''Barbara,'' or any one of a series of pseudonyms that include Stephanie, Sydelle and, quite coincidentally, Nora.