Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol will be the Gate Theatre's Dublin Theatre Festival show in October. It tells the story of a man whose life has been ruined by alcoholism. The routine of his life is interrupted by the death of his estranged wife, and the arrival on his doorstep of his daughter. McPherson counterpoints this story with that of a much younger man, and questions the complicity of this society with alcoholism in the destruction of generations of men. a la Tom Murphy, perhaps? - he offers hope of a kind of resurrection.

The show first went up earlier in the year at the Royal Court, directed by Ian Rickson, with a cast of Bronagh Gallagher, Andrew Scott and Brian Cox. It was such a strong production that it will be hard to live up to, but a tour could not be arranged. The Gate's production will be entirely new: directed by Robin Lefevre, it will feature John Kavanagh as the drunk, Donna Dent as his daughter and Sean McDonagh as his young workmate. A Royal Court production of McPherson's The Weir sold out at the Gate a couple of years ago. Saltwater, his film directing debut, is due out in September.

The Abbey's production of Euripides's Medea has excited much international interest. Producers in continental Europe, New York, London's West End and at the Perth Festival in Australia have expressed strong interest in hosting the show, which is directed by British director, Deborah Warner and features Fiona Shaw in the title role. So far, there have been no deals, but it is expected that there will be some action at the weekend when Warner returns to Ireland. The play was greeted here with a mixed response, but has had some stunning reviews in Britain. The Guardian's Lyn Gardner hailed it as "the first comic Medea": "This Medea is about the failure of romantic love, the breaking of promises and the canker at the heart of male/female relationships: what men want and what women need."

Medea continues until July 1st. Booking: 01-8787222

A hiccup for IMMA with news that the exhibition of the work of American artist, Dennis Oppenheim, scheduled for the recently opened new galleries in the Deputy Master's House, is being postponed from July until early next year.

Meanwhile, one of the current shows there, the Barry Joule archive of works attributed to Francis Bacon, is temporarily closed but will be reopened to the public next week. After it, and the highly successful Picasso exhibition finish their runs (July 9th for the Picasso, August 27th for the Bacon) there will be a time-out while the OPW tackles teething troubles with the complex air conditioning and smoke extraction system in the building.

Asked about the problems, IMMA director Declan McGonagle commented: "The system is working but requires constant maintenance. It has to be refined, and we decided that the best way to do it was to close for an extended period after the current shows, to settle it down and bed it in fully." The new suite of galleries in the Deputy Master's House was specifically designed to accommodate more environmentally sensitive artworks, such as works on paper.

"Where there are Irish there's loving and fighting," wrote Rudyard Kipling in his poem about the Irish Guards - no wonder Edward Said concentrated on him in his study of colonialism, Culture and Imperialism. But times have changed, and from tomorrow the Irish Guards, in their centenary year, will be celebrating a kind of homecoming, when their army band performs at the National Concert Hall, the first performance here by a British Army Band since 1921. They will play with the Garda No 1 band at 7 p.m., and the proceeds will go the Irish and British ex-servicemen's charities.

Contact the National Concert Hall on 01-4751666

Writers from what has been described on these pages as "the school of Cork surrealism" - Conal Creedon, Gerry Murphy and Enda Walsh - will read today at the Everyman Palace Bar, McCurtain Street, Cork at 6 p.m. as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival . . . If you're between 18 and 30 (no, it's not a holiday ad) you could be a Celtic Soprano (be warned: "Image is as important as vocal ability") - phone 087- 2447847 for an audition slot on Saturday . . .