Theatre duo wins hands down for resilience

The Abbey may be flagging, but the same can't be said for another national theatrical institution.

Rosaleen Linehan and Des Keogh, one of Ireland's best-loved comic combinations, are still going strong 50 years after they first took to the stage together as students in UCD.

And yesterday, they were reunited at the Gaiety, close to the scene of their debut performances at the old college theatre on St Stephen's Green, to be honoured for services to the industry.

Linehan, a member of the Arts Council, which held an emergency meeting on Monday night to discuss the Abbey's financial problems, expressed concern at the impact of the crisis on Irish theatre. "It will be hard, but it is certainly not impossible to build up the Abbey again. It's a terrific institution, and as an actor I want to work there."

She said she looked forward to the appointment of a new board and management team, adding: "I have total trust in Fiach MacConghail [ the theatre's new director]. The Abbey has had its problems before. But it has always risen again - like yeast."

Linehan was speaking at the Gaiety Theatre plaza, where she and Keogh became the latest stars to have their handprints taken for an expanding "walk of fame". Luciano Pavarotti most recently lent his weighty digits to the initiative, joining stalwarts of Irish stage John B Keane, Maureen Potter, Anna Manahan and Niall Tobin.

Keogh admitted his name mightn't be the biggest in town. But what of his mitts? With a base-of-palm to finger-tip measurement of over seven inches, he declared with understandable confidence: "My hands won't be beaten. They are huge."

He added: "It's great to think of tourists strolling down here, long after I'm gone, and saying: 'Des Keogh . . . who the hell was he?'"

Keogh toured as a comedian and storyteller in the US and Canada for many years with tenor Frank Patterson. More recently, he enjoyed success with a one-man show The Love-Hungry Farmer, which he adapted from the letters of John B Keane.

He did six two-handers with Linehan between 1975 and 1985 before the partnership was revived in 2000. Their latest outing, Des & Rosie on the Luas, which runs at the Gaiety for three weeks, starting September 5th, will "definitely be our last", said Linehan. "Des will kill me for saying this, but this will be a last hurrah. I have another life as a straight actor, and I'm planning to go back to that."