THE graduating students of the Gaiety School of Acting, following a two year course, have made their public debut at the Project.

As in previous years, the vehicle is a specially commissioned work, written this time by Clare Dowling in collaboration with the cast and director Patrick Sutton. The idea is to ensure that all of the graduates get a chance to show their talents.

Blood certainly provides that opportunity, in the shape of 17 character roles with deafly defined individuals and relationships. At the centre is a wedding under siege, with bride and groom bedevilled by uncertainties, and her father disintegrating under business pressures.

Mother is just out of hospital, the bailiffs are hovering about, student daughter is frantic over an imminent exam and other complications abound.

The mix does not result in the kind of play likely to have a repeat outing. But it fulfils its purpose, and the plot does stitch together, albeit with a thin thread, a number of well observed personality types.

A trendy priest, bossy wedding organiser, distraught photographer, calm debt collector and many more are all nicely drawn and convincingly presented.

The students have clearly learned a great deal in the technical sense speaking and moving with professional ease. A lucky few already possess that blessed quality, little to do with looks or personality, of displacing air on stage, and it would expect to see them again sooner rather than later.

A good crop for the Gaiety School.