On the Town: Film directors, poets, painters and playwrights were among those at the Gate Theatre this week for the opening of Faith Healer, by Brian Friel.
The playwright himself was there with his wife, Anne, and the two posed briefly in the foyer for waiting photographers. Also present was the actor, Michael Gambon, who will perform in the Beckett play, Eh Joe, as part of the Beckett Centenary Festival in Dublin and London later this year.
Among those chatting as they looked forward to the first-night performance of Ralph Fiennes in the lead role of Frank Hardy were Belfast film-maker and singer David Hammond; Tim Cooke, chief executive of National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland; producer Maurice Cassidy; and writer and broadcaster Shay Healy.
The seats in the auditorium soon filled with other luminaries, including film director and writer Neil Jordan and his wife, Brenda Rawn; artists Louis Le Brocquy and his wife, Anne Madden; and playwright Bernard Farrell and his wife, Gloria.
Playwright Thomas Kilroy, actor Liam Cunningham, solicitor Rachel Lee; chairwoman of the Arts Council Olive Braiden; and designer and gallery owner Ib Jorgensen also joined the opening-night throng.
Róise Goan, from The Ark, the children’s cultural centre in Temple Bar, which launched its spring programme earlier this week, was there with her father, Cathal Goan, director general of RTÉ.
Others in the audience included Mary Cloake, director of the Arts Council; Peter Fallon, of Gallery Press, which has published a large part of Friel’s work; and producer John McColgan.
Michael Ford, an actors’ agent from London who was at the opening with his mother, Sue Keeping, had never seen the play before. "I’ve never seen such an epic monologue – it’s absolutely fantastic," he said.
"It’s very understated," said an impressed Linden Ife, a barrister from London who is on the board of the Almeida Theatre there. Her friend, journalist Jeanie Hurley, nodded in agreement.
"It reminds me of The Tempest – the loss of power and the magic," added Hurley.