Every time it seems that the profile of the Irish arts abroad cannot rise any higher, new triumphs propel our cultural reputation to greater heights. For the Gate Theatre to be invited to present an entire mini festival within the New York Lincoln Center's own annual extravaganza might have seemed honour enough. But the reviews which Michael Colgan's 19 play Beckett Festival have carried home with them this month, culminating in an awestruck three pages in Time magazine this week, puts the achievement almost in the same bracket as Michelle Smith's Olympic triumphs.
Samuel Beckett's work might not enjoy quite the same universal recognition as sporting events, but one of the special qualities of the Gate's unique enterprise is that it has dispelled the myth, at home and now abroad, that his plays are too rarified to be popular at all. Without any compromise whatsoever in terms of artistic integrity, insight, and production values - precisely, indeed, by excelling in all three - this festival has created the sort of buzz which is not usually associated with high art. It has shone a spotlight which has illuminated, once again, the genius of an Irish writer, Irish directors, actors, producers and technicians.
As if that were not enough, the same week's US press brings us reports of the remarkable success of Joe Dowling, formerly a much loved and respected artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, in reviving the fortunes of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. Regarded for many years as one of the most important repertory theatres in the United States, the Guthrie had latterly gone into decline. Taking up the reins as artistic director only last December, Dowling has rapidly restored its fortunes. He has directed plays by Chekhov and Brian Friel, and produced one by Goldsmith, which have simultaneously enhanced the venue's artistic reputation, enraptured audiences, and improved its finances.
Closer to home, the massive Edinburgh Fringe Festival is currently on its collective knees in happy surrender to an invading army of Irish comics. One of these, Ardal O'Hanlon, has become so popular so quickly that he has actually been excluded from the main Fringe awards, but another Irish comic, Dylan Moran, was immediately nominated, while younger comics are dominating the junior comedy finals.
These triumphs follow on the success in France of L'Imaginaire Irlandais, and in the autumn Irish culture will be specially featured in Germany through the Frankfurt Book Fair. Just why we are so disproportionately successful, in relation to our size, in exporting first class cultural achievements may remain a mystery. But it should be cause for unabashed celebration. More importantly, it should speed the day when the relatively small economic needs of the cultural sector, still sadly underfunded despite increases in recent years, are finally satisfied by adequate public and private funding. We owe it, you might say, to ourselves.