Alone and palely loitering, Pauline McLynn, who was MC at the awards last night, was in a bit of a tizzy. Going through the guest list she wanted a fizzy orange and she wasn't allowed drink for a while. In between she explained she had just come from the Alternative Theatre Awards, the Ritas, which were organised by her husband, Richard Cook, and at which she got nothing. She felt her marriage might be in jeopardy and was wondering whether she should look for a job as a priest's housekeeper. She said she'd be going to London today to sign a publishing deal for two books about a thirty-anything female detective for which she was getting "a substantial figure". One title she's considering for the first book is Another Dead Thing.
Playwright Hugh Leonard and his wife, Paula, spoke about his new play, which opens at the Abbey on March 10th. It was just a year ago last night that he mentioned the idea for the play to director Patrick Mason, who asked "Are they related?" when told it was about three women.
Rosaleen Linehan patiently explained she was "totally off duty" and there in her capacity as mother. "Conor, my boy" was one of the nominees for his musical contributions to various Abbey productions. Garry Hynes, of Druid, spoke of their spectacular year in Australia and on Broadway and explained they were currently rehearsing As You Like It in Galway, which is being directed by Maoliosa Stafford. Bernard Farrell, a nominee in the Best New Play category, was there, as was Jerome Hynes of the Wexford Opera Festival, who talked of the £10 m plans they have for expanding their theatre facilities in Wexford over the next three to five years.
Actor Stephen Brennan, just finished playing Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Gate, said he had just been taken down from the cross. It was one of the great romantic tragic roles which he had been playing for about 10 weeks, but it felt like two years, he added. Actress Andrea Irvine is working on a new RTE series DDU, in which she will be playing a female detective once again alongside Sean McGinley. Padraic Breathnach, of Macnas, talked of how they were setting up a new theatre company, Fir Clis, for a production in this year's Galway Arts Festival of Site. It would be an outdoor spectacle based on life on a building site. Maria MacDermottroe said she expected Angela's Ashes, the film, to be on release in August.
Noel Pearson revealed that he was "doing nothing at all". This involved a documentary on Luke Kelly, another on Brian Friel and a staging of 12/13 Brian Friel plays this year in Belfast, Dublin, New York, opening in Belfast on April 23rd with a production of Give Me Your Answer Do. Susan Fitzgerald and Rupert Frazer waxed lyrical about Arcadia, which opens at the Gate on February 16th. Susan plays Lady Croom in the play, while Rupert plays Bernard whom they both agreed was "an insufferable redbrick university don . . . an arrogant bastard". Both praised as "magic" the performance of newcomer Jade Yourrell (18), who plays the difficult role of a 13-year-old prodigy .
Lorcan Cranitch, who has just finished at the Royal Court in London in The Glory of Living, was looking forward to the filming of the next series of Ballykissangel which begins next month.
In the throng of the pre-dinner drinks actor Niall Buggy felt the anticipation was like Chinese torture. "If I have to say something, how can I eat a five-course meal? And if I don't win anything, I'll be terribly disappointed, as I have a lovely speech prepared", he said, only minutes before being declared best actor for his role in the Gate's production of Uncle Vanya.
