Venues outside Dublin - and a few within it - have never had touring theatre so good. Many local managements now have the ability and experience to mount their own productions with top professional casts, directors and designers drawn from various sources. Then, having regaled their regional audiences, they despatch the shows far and wide: for example, even before the building was formally opened, An Grianan, Letterkenny's sumptuous new theatre, staged an excellent version of Brian Friel's Translations - pictured above. After a successful week's run, it moved to Sligo and Tallaght, and will play next week in Galway's Town Hall Theatre; then on to Longford, Cork, Mullingar and Portlaoise. The pioneers of touring, the old fit-ups, would have approved.