An audience of actors made their way with friends to a lunch-time première upstairs in Bewley's Café on Grafton Street. A new comedy, Lovely Betty, was the perfect antidote to the grey, rainy day outside.
Actor Mairéad Devlin, who has just finished filming Evelyn,playing Pierce Brosnan's wife, waited with friends for the doors to open. Helen McCusker, a costume designer, who also worked on the film, was there too. They chatted to fellow actor Ned Dennehy, who is off to Berlin this summer to stage a one-man show called Butterflies, written by Ian McEwan.
Actor Karen Scully was also queueing at the door, waiting for Michael Ford, director of Bewley's Café Theatre, to open up and let us in. Vincent Brightling, front of house manager at the Gate Theatre, was there too.
The play, which runs until February 16th, was devised by actors Kelly Campbell, Tom Murphy, Mark O'Halloran and the director, Karen Egan. RTÉ radio presenter Ronan Collins and his wife, Woody Collins, were given ringside seats for the performance.
As the play unfolds, it turns out Collins, the afternoon voice of Radio 1, has a starring role in the production. "That man is a genius," says one of the characters, pointing to a radio set. There were smiles all around.
Keith McErlean, from Carndonagh, Co Donegal, who played one of the three central men in Bachelors Walk on RTÉ, was there with a friend from home, musician Stephen McDaid. McErlean has a part in the upcoming Bernard Farrell play at the Abbey, Lovers at Versailles.
As we were given a glimpse into the mad-cap life of three extraordinary flatmates who are about to be evicted, the soup and sandwiches were passed around. The play was great - more, more, we urged.
But, no. It was time to go back to work.