It was a wild and wicked night to be out, but theatre-lovers were not put off. They trouped into the Peacock for the opening night of Chair, performed by Olwen Fouere and Roger Doyle.
Fouere's partner David Heap, who plays "the sleazebag in a suit" in Fair City, talked to Cindy Cummings, movement director of Chair, in the foyer before the lights went down. "The whole team was amazing," she says. The new work, a production by the National Theatre in association with Operating Theatre, is inspired by Andy Warhol's lithographs of Sing Sing's electric chair.
Tony and Valerie Kealy, parents of Niamh Kealy, the assistant stage manager, came in from Rathfarnham for the performance - their famous 30-year-old pram shop in Walkinstown closed for the night.
The Wexford playwright Billy Roche is here, too, taking a break from rehearsals with Brendan Gleeson, who is to star in his new play On Such As We, opening in the Peacock on Tuesday, December 4th.
David Parnell, director and writer, with Paul Meade, of the Dublin Fringe Theatre Festival's runaway success Scenes from a Watercooler, was there too. Those who missed the comedy during its one-week run in the festival will be glad to know that it goes on a country-wide tour in the new year.
As to Chair, there will be a post-show discussion on Tuesday at 9.45 p.m. with Fouere, composer Doyle and director Johnny Hanrahan, talking about its collaborative development over the past year.