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ARCHAEOLOGY IS RARELY used for marketing purposes, but there has been such excitement about the discovery of remnants of Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre that promoter Patrick Sutton is shamelessly employing it as a fund-raising tool to “reinstate” this famous playhouse on its original site, writes FRANK McDONALDEnvironment Editor

Reinstatement would be impossible, however, as there are three different versions of Smock Alley. The largest and most complete is the shell of SS Michael and John’s Church, where archaeologist Linzi Simpson and her team have unearthed the base walls of two earlier theatres, the oldest dating from 1662.