Uris Still a Believer in His ‘Trinity’ : He Will Join Actors in Epic Reading of Novel of Ireland

How will Leon Uris approach the Grove Theatre Company’s marathon reading this weekend of “Trinity,” his sweeping novel of Ireland? By gulping green beer, he answered, and reveling in the Gaelic spirit.

“This is going to be good fun . . . it should be a gas,” the 63-year-old author, whose other best sellers include “Exodus” and “QBVII,” said in a recent phone interview. “I’ll be doing a little of the narration, (but) mostly I’ll be there to enjoy it, have some beer and maybe pick up the actors who collapse. When it’s my turn to read, maybe I’ll stand and do a little shouting.”

There is a lot to shout about. An 815-page epic about Ireland’s violent struggle for independence at the turn of the century, “Trinity,” published in 1976, has been Uris’ most lauded work. It is also his favorite, and to see 50 actors give it a nonstop reading today and Sunday, just a couple of days after St. Patrick’s Day, is, he said, “unbelievably gratifying.”

Uris said the novel’s importance to him goes beyond the many months of research and writing, the 3 million copies sold, the 60 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. To dramatize its significance, he told a story of Bobby Sands, the Irish activist who died in 1981 after a 66-day hunger strike to protest British treatment of prisoners from the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

During the hunger strike, Uris said, he was asked by authorities to persuade Sands to eat something. Uris declined, believing that “it wasn’t my place to convince him against taking a political stand. That was something in his own heart.”

Meanwhile, Uris learned how much “Trinity” had inspired Sands, who said he had memorized whole chapters and would recite them each night to the other IRA inmates.

“That was one of the most valuable events in my life,” Uris recalled. “It made me feel like someone had put a Nobel Prize around my neck. . . . I really knew that I had done what I intended to do with the book.”

Beyond that, he added, the success of the book “was great for my career because, for the first time, I was seen as more than just a ‘Jewish writer’ who wrote about Jewish themes.”

The story of Conor Larkin, a young Catholic rebel, captures the turbulent, often destructive currents of Ireland’s history, especially its union with Britain and the conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Researching it in Ireland, Uris spent a lot of time talking to people, reading newspapers of the period and studying historical references in his effort to weave a tapestry of political unrest and nationalistic and religious passions.

Uris feels the book is a success for many reasons, not the least of which is its use of language: Critics have commended “Trinity” for the ability of its dialogue to evoke Irish rhythms and nuances. That should be a crucial value in Saturday’s reading, Uris said.

“I think (the reading) should come off pretty well because the language is very pretty. It can be very attractive in a reading setting,” he said. “Something happens in the dialogue, it begins to move and draw you in. It’s like the characters are talking directly to the audience.”

Uris is further optimistic that the reading will hold listeners, at least for an hour or two at a time, because of its continuing relevance to the struggle in Ireland, which became pitched this week when three Roman Catholic mourners were killed during a funeral, in what is believed to have been an attack by Protestants.

But the reading, he said, should not dwell too long on tragedy, he said. Just as St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Ireland, so should “Trinity.” But 24 hours’ worth of celebration?

Uris laughed. “Maybe I’ll grab a couple hours of sleep and come back. Hey, I don’t know if I can hack that many of my own words.

“But really, this should be a complete pleasure for me. It should be beautiful to hear actors bringing your work to life.”

Wayne C. Watkins always saw “Trinity” as a cinematic experience, a “wonderful piece of writing” that presents a “bounty of visual opportunities.” He considered approaching Uris with the idea of turning it into a movie or a television miniseries but never got beyond the planning stage. Besides the colorful scenes, though, Watkins always had admired the language and its dialogue. So he decided that the next best thing to a film would be a reading in a dramatic setting.

As producer/director of the “Trinity” project, Watkins, one of the Grove Theatre Company’s founding members, has been faced with several challenges, including finding 50 actors ready and able to take on the novel’s various characters for a marathon reading, and not pass out along the way.

Watkins first approached the Grove’s core actors. Most signed on immediately. After that, he reached out to performers who had, at one time or another, participated in Grove productions. “It took some work, but it was somewhat easier than I thought to get people involved,” Watkins said. “I found quite a few who were really excited by the idea, not only because they liked the book but because this is such an unusual theatrical experiment.”

One of the actors, Greg Mortensen, noted that the reading will be staged without sets, props or costumes. As a result, “we have to use bigger, brighter colors to paint with,” he said, “but you also have to watch it. You can’t oversell it; that’ll just get you into trouble. Reaching a balance, there is the challenge.”

Watkins acknowledged that his most nagging concern, though, is simply “the endurance factor.” To prevent actors from becoming raspy, losing their performance edge, or just napping on the job, he has divided the reading into shifts based on the novel’s seven sections. Most people will be on stage from one to three hours. “We have five actors (Mortensen being one) reading Conor Larkin in his various stages,” Watkins explained.

Still, “we’ll be watching for actor fatigue, especially in the early morning hours and have a trailer set up with food and cots for them to rest. Frankly, we’ll have to find out as we go along.”

Watkins is also unsure of what to expect in the way of an audience. He is hopeful that the prime evening hours will bring in a fairly large crowd, but he draws a blank when it comes to, say, predicting the turnout at 5 a.m. Maybe a group of insomniacs? Manahattan transplants looking for the all-nighter?

“Well, we have been hitting local universities, their history and acting departments, trying to get students to come out in the wee hours. I’m sure some hard-core folks that really like Uris will show up. Beyond that, I just really don’t know. It should be interesting to find out.”

‘TRINITY’

Today, 7 p.m., nonstop.

Festival Amphitheatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove.

Free.

Information: (714) 636-7213.