THE Steward Of Christendom, Sebastian Barry's acclaimed play about a chief superintendent of police broken by the dismantling of the British empire in Ireland, has been greeted warmly in another former British colonial city: Sydney.

"Donal McCann gives one of the greatest acting performances seen in this country for many years as this sad old man, who is in his final madness, finds a type of hopeless late wisdom," writes John McCallum in the Australian. In the Daily Telegraph, Stewart Hawkins says: "Director Max Stafford Clark has done a superb job with this emotive, evocative and beautiful script."

"Australian arts festivals have enjoyed many an Irish drama tour in recent years, not all of which have matched the advance hype," says James Waites in the Sydney Morning Herald. "This production is of an altogether higher order." This Out of Joint production comes back to the Gate Theatre on March.

Meanwhile, another Irish play which found a home at the Gate has been getting rave reviews at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York. Pat McCabe's Frank Pig Says Hello is "at once hilarious, terrifying and compassionate", writes the often terrifying Clive Barnes in the New York Post. Co Motion director Joe O'Byrne "has gotten two perfect performances from David Gorry and Sean Rocks", he continues. Ben Brantley in the New York Times agrees: under his inventive direction, the men work together with the reflexive precision of a vaudeville team."