There was a small chance that the flood of congratulations for Patrick Sutton, head of the Gaiety School of Acting and newly appointed member of the Arts Council, would overshadow the congratulations for the graduates who opened their end-of-year show, Cult Movie, at the Project on Tuesday night. However, Roger Gregg's play - which featured a 17-piece orchestra, angle-grinders and a chainsaw - managed to grab the attention back onto the performances.
The usual culture vultures were there including Tony O'Dalaigh from the Dublin Theatre Festival and Ali Curran from the Fringe festival; the British Council's Harold Fish; Barnstorm's Maeve Ingoldsby, and Alan Stanford and Michael Colgan of the Gate Theatre, there to decide who would get the Gate award - a chance to work at that august institution - this year. Last year's winner, Lynne Fullerton, was just back from Charleston in the US, where she appeared in the Gate's production of Lady Windemere's Fan.