JIMMY Murphy is obviously a man who inspires a feeling of brotherhood. At the premiere of A Picture Of Paradise, his first play since Brothers Of The Brush, most of the audience was made up of friends, fans, and fellow writers dying to see the playwright's progress. And if the whistles and cheers were anything to go by, they weren't disappointed.
Board member and playwright, Bernard Farrell took time out from writing his new play, due to go on in the Abbey next year, to catch the show, while Gary Mitchell, whose In A Little World Of Our Own was the last hit at the Peacock, travelled from Belfast. Mitchell's play is due to return to the Peacock before touring in Northern Ireland.
Tom Murphy, recently back from a successful run of his plays Bailegangaire in London, was there, gas was the playwright Marina Carr. Peter Sheridan, who is also writing, at the moment, enjoyed the show, as did Bedrock Theatre Company's Jimmy Fay, who was chatting animatedly with young director, Deirdre Roycroft. Phelim Dunne represented the Arts Council and Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins also put in an appearance.
Another familiar face was actor Brendan Conroy, whose children are increasingly making names for themselves on stage and on the big screen. Neili Conroy hit the big time in The Family and recently put in a performance in Paula Meehan's Mrs Sweeney while her brother Ruairi Conroy became known to us in Into The West and has been a great success in Martin McDonogh's The Cripple Of Inishmaan in London. McDonogh fans will be heading for the Druid theatre in Galway, where the Leenane Trilogy will be showing from next week - the first time that all three plays will be shown together.