They came in all their finery. Never mind "what is the stars?". It was more a case of here is the stars at the Gaiety Theatre on Thursday night, as they dazzled in their silver and glitz for the opening night of Juno and the Paycock.
In the auditorium, stars of stage and screen were there. Actress Brenda Fricker, playwright Frank McGuinness, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD and his partner Celia Larkin; RTE general director, Bob Collins and also Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins and Ruairi Quinn and the US Ambassador, Michael Sullivan. The list goes on. Playwright Martin McDonagh and actor Mick Lally were there, as were Maureen Potter and the British Ambassador, Ivor Roberts.
At the end we were all left to ponder the words of Captain Boyle, played by Michael Gambon, who spoke the closing lines before the curtain came down on the night: "I'm telling you...Joxer...th' whole worl's ...in a terr . . .ible state o' . . . chassis!"