GUANTÁNAMO BAY: THE PLAY: If the title is anything to go by, Abie Philbin Bowman's satirical one-man show, Jesus: The Guantánamo Years, is likely to stir controversy and probably offend several religions at once when it's staged at Project, in Temple Bar, from Monday night
In 2002, according to the play, US officials questioned a bearded, Middle Eastern man who, when asked to state the purpose of his visit, said he was "on a mission from God" that involved "dying as a religious martyr". The man was promptly arrested under the Patriot Act and sent to Guantánamo Bay. After his release, it was revealed that he was, in fact, Jesus Christ.
Philbin Bowman, as the "Jesus" character, talks about the time in Guantánamo, his relationship with his Father and the legal battle with Monty Python's Life of Brian. This, and the predictable publicity jokes (the "long awaited comeback tour"; "a Revelation"), suggest that controversialism and cheap humour may be the show's mainstays, or it may achieve its goal and convince the audience that Guantánamo is, among other things, "laughably stupid". Jesus: The Guantanamo Years, at Project, Dublin, July 3rd-8th, before it features at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. Tickets €10/€8. Contact 01-8819613/14, www.project.ie.
BUY FAMOUS PEOPLE'S STUFF If you can't have Andy Warhol's prescribed 15 minutes of fame, owning something a famous person once possessed could be the next best thing. A new shop, Famous Memorabilia, is a shrine to celebrities in music, film and sports. Prices for items in the shop range from €20 to €20,000. Selling authentic memorabilia is a multibillion-dollar activity in the US and growing fast in the UK. A group of Irish businessmen and former sportsmen are hoping the Irish will have the same appetite. If you want to own Buzz Aldrin's moonwalker's medal, a French jersey signed by Zinedine Zidane, or an original 1966 Beatles poster, check out Famous Memorabilia, 47 Drury Street, Dublin 2; www.famous.ie, 01-6794699. Nicoline Greer
EBAY IT AWAY Have you thought of selling on eBay but been put off by the hassle of it all? Bring whatever you want to offload to an I Sold It outlet (in Dublin and Galway) and let them do the rest. For 30 per cent of the sale price, they will write a description of the item, photograph it and list it on eBay. If your item sells, they will also deal with the payment-collection, packaging-and-shipping and customer-service issues. See www.i-soldit.ie. Rachel Dugan
IT'S FASHION VICTIM FIDO It hasn't taken Newbridge Silverware long to sniff out a growing international trend. In the UK, owners spend an estimated €60 million a year on accessories for their pets. In Japan, T-shirt-wearing dogs are everyday sights on Tokyo streets; in the US, there's even a Bark Jacobs collection, by Marc Jacobs, for pampered pets.
In Ireland, model Andrea Roche and her Maltese terrier, Snowy, are the models for Newbridge's Pets Collection. Snowy is photographed in the catalogue (should that be dogalogue?) with a selection of fetching leashes and collars with diamante dog bones.
And what's a dog to wear with all that bling? Check out a new online shop, www.mollys.ie, launched last week by Claire Lanigan from Greystones, Co Wicklow, where you'll find a complete fashion collection for your pooch, including cocktail dresses, T-shirts, hoodies, and doggy slippers. Molly's Pet Boutique also stocks a bewildering array of accessories for playtime, bathtime and bedtime. Deirdre McQuillan
LITTLE GYM If the thought of showing your jiggly bits in public is all that's stopping you from signing up for gym membership, you no longer have an excuse. Fitness Together, a new gym - sorry, personal training studio - in Rathmines, Dublin 6, will spare your blushes as it whips you into shape. Fully equipped private training rooms do away with the embarrassment factor, as well as the queues for machines, and one-to-one personal attention will keep you on the right track. Free trials are now on offer, as well as 20 per cent off your initial training programme. Prices start at €55 a session. Fitness Together, 01-4965829, www.ftireland.com.
CRAFTY FOLK OF CLONAKILTY Ceramicist Etain Hickey opened her shop and gallery on Ashe Street in Clonakilty, Co Cork, last year, to sell crafts made by some of the 150 professional craft workers in west
Co Cork. Last year the shop won the national Best Shopfront award in the Tidy Towns competition, capturing the judges' attention with its cream facade, arched windows and eclectic display.
To celebrate her first year in business, Hickey has sourced an exhibition of west Cork treasures. It features the work of 18 fellow artists, including Cape Clear glass mobiles by Doris Ni Liathain, coral necklaces from Anka Herman, and Kieran Higgins's bog oak vessels. New to the gallery are Sally Smart's bright silk painted wall hanging and Cindy Bartley's oil and gold leaf paintings.
Hickey and her husband, Jim Turner, opened Rossmore Pottery 24 years years ago to make colourful functional pottery as well as gallery pieces. The exhibition showcases his textured ceramics and her gold and mother-of-pearl lustred work.
Exhibition prices start at €100, for Julian Smith's ceramic shoes; in the shop you can buy a hand-thrown candle bowl in different colours from €2.50. Don't pass by. Etain Hickey, 40 Ashe Street, Clonakilty, Co Cork, 023-21479. Anne Dempsey
TABLE TALK The original Ely Wine Bar, on Ely Place, just off St Stephen's Green in Dublin, has recovered from a fire in the entrance hall last month. And now there is even more to the Ely operation, with the opening of a new and much larger version at CHQ, beside the International Financial Services Centre. The combination of a 500-plus-bottle wine list and good, straightforward food (much of it organic) should fill this 930sq m (10,000 sq ft) 350-seater. And, with luck, not only with people in suits. If wine is not your thing, there's a selection of real beers, too. The organic meat, incidentally, comes from the Co Clare farm that belongs to the father of Ely owner Eric Robson.
In another expansion move, Ronan Ryan and Temple Garner of Town Bar & Grill, on Kildare Street, Dublin 2, will be opening a second restaurant at the Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford, Co Dublin, in February. The new establishment, to be called South Bar & Grill, will be run on similar lines to Town Bar & Grill.
Co Meath-born chef Richard Corrigan, of London's Lindsay House and Bentley's, has declined the opportunity to open in the revamped Shelbourne Hotel when it reopens later this year, in favour of his new venture at the Old Mill on the Lyons Estate, in Straffan, Co Kildare, which is due to open in mid-August. It appears that there are now no obvious contenders for the landmark dining room on St Stephen's Green and that the investors behind the project may have differing views on how to proceed. Nobu, the chain of chic sushi restaurants, which had also been tipped to open in the Shelbourne, is still looking for a suitable location in Dublin, which is high on its list for new openings. Tom Doorley
• At Cocoon childcare centres, the newest of which has just opened in Blessington, Co Wicklow, parents can tune into the latest version of a baby monitor, and watch their child in real time on the internet. Big mother is watching you. Passworded users only may view the centres, on www.cocoonchildcare.ie