Fans, friends and family of actor/playwright Pat Kinevane from Cobh are out in force for the opening night of his new play, The Plains of Enna. His sisters, Betty and Julie, have travelled up from Cork for the night.
In the foyer of the Tivoli Theatre, playwright Frank McGuinness is, in his own words, "back to normal, back cooking and writing", after his own new play's opening last week in the Abbey. "I just think Pat Kinevane is a terrific writer as well as a wonderful actor. There's no other man in Dublin would drag me out tonight - I'm so tired - but I would do it for him."
Novelist Maeve Binchy tells us that she's "a great admirer of Pat Kinevane" - and she stops to praise director Jim Culleton as well. Actor Geraldine Plunkett, says Kinevane, is "multitalented".
Actor Patrick Bergin, in designer stubble and a long, Rasputin-type coat, is "very busy" at the moment having just finished producing a film based on Yeats's play, The Countess Cathleen. But he's found a window in his schedule and he's here to see the new play. Frank Kelly, who arrives with his wife, Bairbre, says he is currently to be seen playing a chef in Glenroe on RTE1. They both love Kinevane too.
Novelist Anthony Glavin, whose latest work is a collection of short stories, The Draughtsman and the Unicorn, is there with his daughter Caitrin.
Director Culleton is out front watching to see who is coming through the front door. "The cast are not quite terrified, but they are very nervous," he says. And, what has the night got in store for us? "Well," he says, warming to his theme, "it's a big, passionate, volcanic epic tale of love, lust and betrayal." Well, he nearly has to hold us back after that with the rush to the seats. The night is but a pup - and at the end the author is proclaimed a hero.