One of the biggest gatherings of the artistic year must surely be the opening of the annual exhibition at the RHA Gallagher gallery. It looked like nearly 1,000 people had crowded into the building on Monday night - artists, collectors, friends and a fair few good old-fashioned liggers, too.
There were plenty of the fuchsia-coloured gowns worn by academicians in evidence - from Imogen Stuart (who exhibited an artist's copy of her bust of Mary Robinson, currently in the Aras) to the youngest academician, Mick O'Dea. The late Charles Brady was sorely missed but his presence was everywhere - four of his works; a bust of him by Marjorie Fitzgibbon; and an award in his name presented by his wife, Eelagh Brady. Eelagh who decided to present the award to Raphael Hynes, had gone to the "varnishing day" for exhibiting artists on Saturday rather than the big bash on Monday.
Another prizewinner was Blaise Smith (the pool hall manager in The Commitments in a previous incarnation), who won the Fergus O'Ryan RHA Memorial Award. Blaise now lives in Kilkenny with his partner, Orla Kelly, who has been making a name for herself as the DIY whizz on RTE's Our House programme. Singer Mary Stokes came to the opening, too. She had just returned from a short tour in the States to discover that her husband, painter Brian Palm, had two works selected for the show - and one of them was already sporting a red sticker on the opening night. Other guests included Raymond Keaveney of the National Gallery; poet Derek Mahon; Josephine Kelliher of the Rubicon Gallery, and Donald Caird, the former archbishop of Dublin, who admired the portrait of him executed by David Hone, a past president of the RHA. Apparently both Dr Caird and, more importantly, his wife, were delighted.
There was a trio of ambassadors - Veronica Sutherland from Britain, Daniel Dultzin from Mexico and Lubos Novy from the Czech Republic; Lord Henry Mount Charles; sculptor Catherine Greene and her husband Robin Greene, both of Kildare; sculptor Olivia Musgrave with her cousin Anna Wilson Wright; horse breeder Eimear Mulhearn, and Wendy-Jane Catherland, who is set to become the first woman president of the Irish Auctioneers' and Valuers' Institute in 77 years next year.
Memories made of this
There was a party in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre on Thursday night celebrating Donal O'Donovan's new book, Little Old Man Cut Short. It may be a volume of memoirs, but the twists and turns of events make it seem like a rather surreal novel, albeit one that features a lot of familiar characters. Donal's mother, Monty O'Donovan, was the sister of Kevin Barry, one of the most enduring icons of the War of Independence. This makes for some rather unusual childhood memories, including a night when a German Secret Service agent, Dr Hermann Goertz, parachuted into Ireland and ended up borrowing Donal's bed for the night. The payment for this bed and breakfast came some time later when Dr Goertz presented the teenage Donal with a .32 Browning automatic and 50 rounds of ammunition - making Donal the envy of all his mates, no doubt. Donal, who wrote the "Mercator" column for this newspaper during the 1980s, now lives in Bray with his wife, Jenny Donovan, daughter of renowned architect Raymond McGrath.
My oh my mufti
There was a special kind of raw energy about Spring, the "fashion theatre" that opened in the Temple Bar Music centre on Tuesday night. John Rocha, who opened the show, must have felt it too because he said the occasion reminded him of the first show he put on 15 years ago with Michael Mortell (who was also there), Paul Costelloe and Ib Jorgensen.
Afterwards, John seemed delighted with the show, telling one of the proud mothers at the event who had travelled from Tralee for the event that he had come from London and it was worth it. Director Caimin Collins stole the show (which is best described as a mixture of young fashion design, music and dance) with his jazzed-up Irish jig during the finale. Caimin, whose previous work was with Siamse Tire, is going to work with James Conway of the Opera Theatre Company after the buzz of Spring dies down.
Other participants in the show included designer Niamh Lunny, who's setting up business in Dublin after working with Brooks Brothers in New York, and dancer Rionach Ni Neill, who also has a PhD in geography and a rather successful boyfriend - playwright Conor McPherson.
Acting smart
FOR all their famed gregariousness, there are few enough public occasions when large numbers of Dublin's theatre people have a chance to get together. First nights attract quite a few but by the time seats are set aside for critics, sponsors and the cast of VIPs, many actors are often not included on the list. However, there is one annual event where the audience is almost entirely made up of thespians - the annual table quiz run by theatre's own cricket club, the Theatrical Cavaliers, shortly about to go into its eleventh season. This year's quiz, which is being held tomorrow evening, is at a new venue - the Teachers' Club in Parnell Square. Among those expected to attend are Maureen Potter (who is one of the Cavaliers' three patrons, together with Peter O'Toole and Pat Laffan) Rosaleen Linehan, fresh from a very successful run with Long Days Journey Into Night at the Gate; Stephen Brennan and Garret Keogh, the Cavaliers' secretary. Oscar winner Frances McDormand, who is in rehearsal in the Gate, may also go along to pit her wits against her Irish counterparts. The representation from the soaps will include Tara Quirke from Fair City and Peter Hanly from Ballykissangel, while playwrights Conor McPherson and Frank McGuinnness are also expected to turn up on the night.
Richard Cook, the director of the Cat Laughs comedy festival in Kilkenny, will be there - comedian Paul Merton will be in town on Monday to announce details about this year's festival line-up. Richard's partner, actor Pauline McLynn, and Upwardly Mobile's Mark O'Regan are the quizmasters and guarantee an evening which, say the Cavaliers, "allows us to make mature adults laugh as we separate them from their hard-earned cash". The cash, incidentally, will go to the Capuchin Day Centre in Church Street, which provides day care for homeless and other needy people.
Talking shop
The latest in the series of Irish Permanent Women in Business seminars took place in the Shelbourne on Monday. Organiser Jane Stephenson, who persuaded PR guru Lynne Franks and RTE Radio head Helen Shaw to share their experiences during previous seminars, invited Ann Iverson over from London. Ann was famously the chief executive officer of Laura Ashley (with a rumoured salary of £3 million) before leaving after an ambitious expansion plan for the US last year. Ann, who says she was "too busy working to notice whether there was a glass ceiling or not", was only in Dublin on a flying visit, although she knows the city well. She said she only hoped she'd have enough time to look at the shops before her flight in the morning - not for any lastminute souvenirs but because "it's my job to just look at shops all the time".
Interestingly, although there was a number of business women who seemed to enjoy the talk greatly, one of the few senior figures in retail was a man; Tom Rea of Clerys. The other person with an interest in the retail industry was designer Louise Kennedy, who was deep in conversation with Ann about the British stores, where Louise's clothes are doing rather well. Ann, who became a giftwrapper at Bullocks department store after leaving school early, has worked her way up ever since, holding senior posts in Bloomingdales, BHS and Mothercare. Although frank and open, she was a little reticent about her current occupation, only giving away that she is on the external board of a "large American organisation" and that she was "using the time to reflect". One of Ireland's newest millionaires, Moya Doherty, the producer of Riverdance, will lead the next seminar for women in business.
Long Island tea break
It's not every day that you can have a cuppa in a nightclub, but next Friday Robbie Fox is inviting lots of friends around to his club Renards for his annual tea party in aid of the Alzheimer's Society. Robbie is promising live music, a raffle with a trip to New York on offer, and of course plenty of tea, of both the regular and the Long Island cocktail version.
The committee includes model Sonia Reynolds; event manager Enda McGrattan; Graham Cruz of new band Dove, and Jenni Crawford from Kazumi, the hairdresser. Between them, they have enough interesting friends to make any tea dance go with a bang. Everyone is welcome to support the event which takes place between 2.30 and 5 p.m.