Following Conor McPherson's Olivier Award last weekend for Best New Play for The Weir, the latest Irish playwright to be lauded in London is Mark O'Rowe. His new play, Howie the Rookie, has opened to critical approval at the Bush Theatre, London. Directed by Mike Bradwell, and performed by Karl Sheil and Aidan Kelly, it is a series of consecutive, humorous monologues that bring the audience on "a pungent trawl of lowlife Dublin" - as the London Independent's Paul Taylor puts it. He adds O'Rowe's name to the growing category of "young, gifted and Irish" (the missing adjective is "male") dramatists to make an impact in Britain.

Following the success of Tarry Flynn last year, the Abbey's The Colleen Bawn transfers to the Lyttelton (Royal National Theatre) next month, where it will provide the excuse for a mini-Festival of "all things Irish" at the South Bank, including traditional music sessions and storytelling. Called Craic Galore, it sounds like something Boucicault would have relished.