Greek tragedy presents its comic dimensions

Journalists are the modern-day equivalent of the "Greek chorus", a woman told John Waters after his add-ress on Medea in the Abbey Theatre, an account of which led to his libel case against the Sunday Times and Terry Keane.

Yesterday, as the legal drama continued to occupy the main stage in the High Court, journalists had temporarily abandoned the chorus to take up central roles. And, while the issues are inextricably tied to the plot of Euripedes's tragedy, the evidence was not without its comic moments.

The story unfolding before the court began over coffee in Ranelagh two years ago, when Ms Keane received a visit from her south Dublin neighbour and friend of "nearly 40 years", journalist June Levine. Ms Levine had attended Mr Waters's pre-show talk the night before and was still furious at what she saw as its "onslaught on women".

Giving evidence yesterday, she said she knew the most annoying parts by heart, including what the plaintiff himself described in court as his humorous exaggeration of "schadenfreude" among women in the Abbey audience. Editing what she thought irrelevant, but which the plaintiff says is crucial to understanding his talk, she recounted the excerpt reproduced by Ms Keane. It was not a premeditated exercise, she insisted, just "something to talk about over coffee".

There were some things even friends of 40 years don't talk about, however. Asked if they had been friendly during the years of Ms Keane's gossip column in the Sunday Independent, Ms Levine replied that she never read that newspaper. And asked if she was aware that Ms Keane had since described her old column as "poisonous and pernicious", Ms Levine said she was not, but the des-cription "doesn't seem too inaccurate".

The public gallery could not contain its schadenfreude at this point, and the laughter was only encouraged when, asked if she had reservations about giving the Medea story to her friend, Ms Levine added: "I wouldn't have given it to her for the Sunday Independent." So this was a new Terry Keane, "not poisonous or pernicious", asked Garret Cooney SC, now playing to the gallery at the expense of the chorus. "People can change," said Ms Levine.

The witnesses changed soon afterwards, Ms Keane herself taking the stand briefly to recount her career in journalism, starting with The Irish Times in 1963, and to describe Mr Waters's views on Medea as "cracked" but "a damn good story". She returns today.

The plaintiff's case ended earlier, with glowing references for Mr Waters from Irish Times Religious Affairs Correspondent Patsy McGarry. Mr Waters concluded his own evidence by rebutting Ms Keane's suggestion that he had left the Abbey stage in a hurry on the night in question.