Down in the west, Galwegians are gearing up to party. This year's July fest over 13 days will be Web friendly, WAP friendly and... wonderful, says Fergal McGrath, manager of the Galway Arts Festival. Also, we predict, the weather from July 17th to 29th will be warm, the theatrical work wild, and the wisitors wowed.
In the old days, they used to sell show tickets from the backs of bicycles, as casting director Maureen Hughes recalls. As "one of the foot soldiers", she made the Galway Arts Festival what it is today, enthuses her friend and colleague, Amy Rowan. The pair enjoy the festival's programme launch in The Globe, taking time out from trawling for young actors to star in the new John Boorman film, On Knight's Castle.
Also at the launch is Jim Culleton, of Fishamble Theatre Co, who will direct Ian Kilroy's first play, The Carnival King. There's great interest in the work of local Galway man Kilroy, he says. "It's about the ghost of a murdered woman, who is looking for revenge."
Two chatting heads recall happy days when they acted together with Barnstorm in Kilkenny. Mark O'Brien, director, hears how actor-turned-corporate-employee Helen Walsh has "seen the light". "I'm sitting down all day, work from 9 to 5, which is so strange and I'm working all the time."
One of the festival's - "like Big Brother without the boring bits", says festival director Rose Parkinson. It's a production that "has captured the imagination of audiences from Melbourne to Montreal", says the programme. Cool.