Where can we be? A handsome American has just flown in from Milan to see a new play. He's laden with first-night flowers. A starry-eyed couple who got engaged last week are kissing in the foyer - really, don't they realise there are reporters present? And the calm Cork woman Gina Moxley says wisely that "a couple of gin and tonics will straighten out" any pre-show nerves. The Civic Theatre in Tallaght is alive and kicking for the opening of three new plays from Fishamble Theatre Company's Y2K festival.
It's the coldest night of the year, yet the excitement can't be dampened. Blaise Zandoli, hot off the plane from Italy, is greeted by his long-standing friend, Letterkenny playwright Deirdre Hines, whose new play, Dreamframe, is about to be staged. It has been directed by Jo Mangan, who is also general manager of the company. Mangan is expecting her own fanclub - parents Sean and Mary Mangan and her three younger brothers, John, Martin and Brendan - to arrive any minute. The kissing couple are Deborah Aydon, executive producer of Rough Magic, and her fiance, actor Gerry Crossan. Did they get engaged on Valentine's Day? "No, I've more class than that. I'm a Derry man for God's sake," he says cheekily.
Many of Moxley's friends - among them artists Gabby Dowling and Robert Armstrong and musician Sam Parke - have arrived to see her latest work which is called Tea Set. Dermot Bolger's new play, Consenting Adults, has also drawn a crowd. Writers spotted at the bash include Hilary Fannin and her partner, sub-editor Giles Newington; Joe O'Connor and his wife Anne- Marie Casey and Tony Glavin and his wife Adrienne Fleming. Brid Dukes, director of the Civic Theatre, says, looking about her: "Tallaght is whatever you want. I love it here."