On the Town: Britney Spears may have been strutting her stuff at the Point but, up the river, Adrian Dunbar was stealing the show on the stage of the Abbey.
There was a full house for the opening night of The Shaughraun, by Dion Boucicault, this week, with the President, Mary McAleese and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, heading the list of special guests.
Actor Brendan Gleeson, singer Shane McGowan and designer Richard Lewis joined the throng.
Singer Colm Wilkinson, who had to cancel a 12-date tour of Ireland because of a sore throat, came along with his wife, Deirdre, to enjoy the play. They will return to Toronto shortly, he said.
Director Lynne Parker took time out from rehearsals of the play Heavenly Bodies, by Stewart Parker, who was her uncle. The play, which opens in a couple of weeks at the Peacock, is about the life and times of Boucicault, she said, and will form a kind of companion piece to The Shaughraun. She was with the Scottish playwright, Linda McLean, as the two are off to Edinburgh later this summer to stage McLean's play, Shimmer.
Pianist Micheál Ó Súilleabháin, writer Jennifer Johnston and broadcaster Pat Kenny, with his youngest daughter, Nicole (8), were also among the audience.
The Shaughraun is directed by John McColgan, who was at the opening with his wife, Moya Doherty.
Afterwards President McAleese went backstage to meet and congratulate members of the cast, which includes 30 actors, musicians and dancers and Patch, the dog, who played the part of Tatters.
• The Shaughraun, by Dion Boucicault, runs at the Abbey Theatre until Saturday, July 31st