It was playwright Alex Johnston's big night - the opening of his first play, Melonfarmer, at the Peacock in Dublin. He admitted to some nerves - "But only when I'm not watching the play. When I'm in there it's fine - I think they're very good!" he laughed.
Director Jimmy Fay of Bedrock was also accepting the compliments, commenting that it was nice to be directing this year - for the past two years he has been directing the whole Fringe Festival, a task he handed over to Ali Curran. Festival judges Patrick Sutton of the Gaiety School of Acting and journalist Anne-Marie Hourihane were feeling a little jaded after two weeks of non-stop play-going. "Tomorrow night I'm staying in and not even watching telly," Patrick groaned.
Other first-nighters included playwright Bernard Farrell; Fiach Mac Conghail, director of the Project; Jason Byrne of Loose Cannon theatre company and a veritable bevvy of Johnston family members.