Opening night and the young playwright, Eugene O'Brien, is feted by family and friends. Before the lights go down, he's "very relaxed", smiling at the prospect of an opening night and his first major stage play, Eden, which is at the Peacock Theatre. "The show is in good shape," says the writer. And it is.
O'Brien's father and mother, Eugene and In- grid O'Brien, are ready to go in, having travelled from Edenderry in Co Offaly for the opening. His sister, the artist, Louise O'Brien, and two brothers, Ken O'Brien, a professional golfer and the youngest family member Stephen O'Brien (17) are also here. O'Brien's girlfriend, Sarah- Jane Drummey, an actor from Tralee, Co Kerry, is also about to go in. She is currently rehearsing in Big Maggie, which opens on St Valentine's Day in the Abbey. Garry Hynes is here too. e". Michael O'Brien, from Carbury sp? in Co Kildare, is one of O'Brien's cousins but this is a theatre - the play's the thing. Tonight, the fencing (verbal) will take place on stage.
Two Nenagh women, Michelle Hoctor of RTE Radio, and physicist Eileen Seymour, are here to see their friend, Catherine Walsh, in the role of Breda. The writer Philip Davison is also here for opening night. Also spotted are director Stephen Bradley; actor Deirdre O'Kane; playwright Michael West; director, Annie Ryan and actor Tina Kellegher, a former Ballykissangel persona. Eden "is very funny and very heart-wrenching", says Conor McPherson, who directs the play. McPherson and O'Brien, he says, "co-operated a lot . . . We got on really, really well". McPherson's own new play, Port Authority, opens in London soon, and in Dublin in April. His London agent, Nick Marston, who has come along to see the work as well, nods away. Ben Barnes, artistic director of the National Theatre, can't help boasting that the Abbey received 25 of the 40 nominations in The Irish Times/ESB Awards, which were announced recently. Now, he nods. Now.