THIS year the fringe (still not so called) is bigger than ever, wit off beat shows running all over the place.

At the Quays pub at lunch time, Cumann Theatre Company is performing Parental Guidance, the sequel to Religious Knowledge, Eamonn F. Kelly's hilarious, hammy send up of a Christian Brothers education. Predictably, it is not as good as the first show, but there are still some great moments, as Gerry Conneely, Philip Sweeney, Ghari and Mathew Guinnane exploit the comic stereotypes they have created. More shows are planned, phone 091-768926 for details.

Israel's Tmu Na Theatre have been performing Meeting Cassandra, about a woman's search for "the redemptive and healing powers of love", at 5.30 p.m. every day at Punchbag Theatre, and at 11 p.m. at the same venue, Little John Nee, who made made a powerful guest appearance at the Saw Doctors' gig, is doing his marathon cabaret act, The House of Chill. The festival can't support everything, but with performers of that calibre in Galway, one wonders why the three to seven year olds had to put up with Black Box Puppet Theatre from Scotland's Grandpa and the Bags of Rubbish, part of Babaro. Uninventive, and unforgivably preachy, I felt hope for the future when the question was asked: "What should we do with the rubbish which has been thrown into the garden", and one child yelled: "THROW IT BACK!"