Ireland’s most notoriously complex book adapted for kids? Yes, James Joyce’s famous experimental novel Ulysses is cleverly retold here in 45 minutes by Galway theatre company Branar. Storyteller Helen Gregg does an exquisite job in her tweed trousers and beret, turning pages on three giant pop-up books, and moving cardboard cut-outs around a Dublin hospital, cemetery and library. She introduces Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus and dozens more, slipping into Ulsterman vowels, opera song or drunken drawl, as required.

You can almost smell the pork kidney frying in butter and taste the many, many pints as Gregg guides us to mass, onto the beach and into Molly Bloom’s bedroom. You’ll See stops short of any sexy stuff from the original text (this is a kids show after all) but we get the gist of sleazy Blazes Boylan’s dishonourable intentions and there are laughs when Gregg says wearily ‘he thinks he’s brilliant’. 

The delivery is dense but playful, with smart point-of-view swaps from the beautifully illustrated cut-outs mirroring Joyce’s many narrative shifts. Recommended for adults who have faked reading the book but want to dive in, bookish kids with good attention spans, or Ulysses Stans, ready for a lovely literary homage. 

You’ll See…, Pleasance Courtyard, until 24 August, noon.