Monday night's opening of The Mayor of Casterbridge at the Gaiety brought our own Lord Mayor, Joe Doyle, up from Dawson Street, along with his wife, Peggy Doyle. Thomas Hardy's fictional tale of a town's mayor whose past catches up with him (in this version by Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy for Storytellers Theatre Company) was thoroughly enjoyed by the real Lord Mayor, and also by Arts Council chairman Brian Farrell, costume designer Joan Bergin, Dublin Fringe Festival director Ali Curran, Rough Magic's Lynn Parker, Laura Magahy of Temple Bar Properties, and actors Barbara Ni Chaoimh, Alan Devine, Ruth McCabe and Ronan Wilmot.
