On the Town: The Royal Shakespeare Company made its only appearance in the Republic with The Hollow Crown, which opened at the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork on Thursday night.
Originally assembled in 1960 by the director, John Barton, who devised it as an exercise to aid actors with verse speaking, the current production boasts the talents of Donald Sinden, Susannah York, Richard Johnson and Clive Francis. Among the audience was Mary Wilson, who would be more accustomed to seeing her daughter, Fiona Shaw, onstage in a RSC production. Also in attendance was the artistic director of the acclaimed Corcadorca Theatre Company, Pat Kiernan, accompanying his mother, Peggy.
Upcoming director Tom Creed, a recent recipient of an Arts bursary from Cork City Council, was there with his Playgroup Theatre Company partner Hillary Shaughnessy. They have secured a residency in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre along with local writer and director Oonagh Kearney.
Actor Pascal Scott, who finished The Field in September and is now working on a film in Belfast based on the acclaimed play, Mojo Mickybo, took advantage of a break in shooting to be there. He plans to work on a series with Pat Shortt in the New Year.
Also enjoying the performance were Conor Doyle, chairman of the National Sculpture Factory, and his wife Maretta, restaurateur Canice Sharkey, Joachim Boeug and his wife, the artist Catherine Boucher Boeug, Dan Buckley, author of Man Overboard, with his son, Luke, and actress Martina Carroll, whose family of silversmiths and goldsmiths has opened a new shop in the East Village in Douglas.
After the performance Donald Sinden, whose wife Diane was originally a Mahoney from Aherla in Co Cork, was delighted to receive a framed photo of her as a young girl from Angela Murphy. Murphy's mother, Frances Canny, was Diane's first cousin.