It's latheration time at the Point Theatre. Riverdance, the Homecoming is about to begin: five years performing, in 100 countries, to rave reviews and thunderous applause (as they say), £500 million in profits. "Out of the dark we came," says the voice of Liam Neeson at the start of the show - and sure enough, they do. There are spotted and striped dickie-bows of all descriptions on the men and backless dresses of apparently precarious dimensions on many of the women - especially in the corporate tent.
Susan Hunter, in a beautiful Mariad Whisker number, is not worried someone will pull on the two laces keeping her dress together at the back. "I just keep my shoulders up, like this," she jokes. Orla Branigan from Castleblayney in Co Monaghan is not concerned either about her dress coming undone. "No chance, it's glued," she says, just before Tadhg Sullivan, from Stepaside in Co Dublin, in the spirit of research, offers to pull it and test just how secure it is: but she insists "it's well supported". Thankfully, Madeline Ellis from Goatstown is in a very nice cream trouser suit and it has plenty of material.
Father Brian Darcy is here to see Riverdance for about the 10th time. It must be like penance for him at this stage. "Absolutely not," he says. "It's so nice to see it." His favourite part in the show is where "Irish and tap dancing marry. It's all about the marriage of cultures," he explains. The only man in a kilt is Peter Doyle, whose sister is Joanne Doyle, lead dancer in this production of Riverdance - the girl swirling in the poster. He's already seen her perform all over the place in Europe - Gottenburg, Munich, Edinburgh, Stockholm, he begins before he runs out of breath. The irony, he says, is that he was studying dance, like his sister, some years ago - until they asked him to wear a kilt. He works as a surveyor in Scotland now, hence today's kilt.
Majella Murphy and Vickie McInerney from Limerick "can't wait" to see Riverdance. They've just arrived at the Point on a bus with their colleagues and friends.
Pat Moylan of Andrews Lane Theatre is receiving compliments from journalist Kevin O'Connor, of RTE's What It Says In The Papers fame (and not the Kevin O'Connor who wrote Sweetie), on the success of her production Stones in his Pockets, which is currently running in London's West End, transferring to a larger theatre there in August. The play opens in Toronto in January and in New York next March.
In the foyer, Sutton-based Kevin Wall, a member of the Variety Club of Ireland, is doing a steady trade selling silver hearts for £1 for the charity, which helps to raise money for blind, deaf and handicapped children.
The Riverdance troupe is returning to Japan later this year, playing in Hong Kong and Singapore for the first time, but tonight the Japanese television crew can not be disturbed. They are filming the arrival of a celebrity at the Point. Monsieur, one of Japan's most famous rock 'n' rollers from the 1960s, is here. ("Remember the Scorpions, in Japan!" one helpful interpreter interjects. Oh, yes, of course). A diminutive man in a purple suit with a great mop of ash-blond hair and a fine confident step arrives with Miki Sakai on his arm. The cameras track the pair as they go up the steps to the auditorium. Their entrance to Riverdance, the Homecoming is in the can.
