When Waiting for Godot opened in Paris, the glitterati came in their droves, only to disappear at the interval completely flummoxed.
Last night there was a full house at the Barbican in London throughout the 2 1/2 hours of what a recent British National Theatre poll confirmed as "the most influential play of the 20th century".
Heading the distinguished guest list for the first night of the Beckett festival was the President, Mrs McAleese; the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera; and the Irish Ambassador to Britain, Mr Ted Barrington.
Mr Barrington earlier hosted a lunch for some of the Gate Theatre's long-time supporters, including Mr Paul McGuinness, manager of U2; Mr Joe Mulhol land, director of RTE television; Mr Tony O'Dalaigh, director of the Dublin Theatre Festival, and Mr Alan Moloney, producer of Parallel Films.
It was entirely fitting, Mrs McAleese said in opening the festival, that the Gate Theatre's ambitious project - first staged in Dublin in 1991 and then in New York in 1996 - should now be performed in London. It demonstrated, she said, international co-operation at its most imaginative and productive.
"For while cultural forms often define what makes us distinct, they also show how much we have in common. Indeed down through the years, whatever the difficulties and tensions that have existed in the Anglo-Irish relationship, one aspect that has developed and thrived is the contribution we have made to each other's cultural lives."
Most importantly, she added, the timing felt entirely right. A view endorsed by Mr Graham Sheffield, artistic director of the Barbican Centre. "It's the right moment, at the end of the century, to be celebrating one of the great men of the century. For people who know Beckett, it is a way to extend their knowledge, for people who don't, it's a way in."
Among those at last night's reception was Beckett's nephew, Mr Edward Beckett. Now a professional flautist, he remembers playing duets with Beckett's wife, Suzanne, who was a fine pianist.
For Louis Le Brocquy and his wife, the painter Anne Madden, the evening had special resonance as he designed both the set and costumes for the Gate's production, one of Samuel Beckett's last artistic requests.
Although born in Dublin, it wasn't until Mr Le Brocquy was working in Paris that his friendship with Beckett was sealed.
A shock of white hair proclaimed the presence of Dave Allen, talking to Mr Aiden McKeown of AIB. The comedian acknowledged that his arm had been twisted by Mr Michael Colgan, artistic director of the Gate Theatre, to contribute to a staged reading later in the festival.
Also there were actors Niamh Cusack and John Hurt who take on Not I and Krapp's Last Tape respectively.
The essence of Beckett's work was reflected in a piece by artists Stephanie Smith and Edward Stewart commissioned for the festival. Its title Godforsaken Hole/Free Hand and a video loop of an open mouth and a hand would no doubt have found resonance with Beckett as it did with Mrs McAleese.
"As someone married to a dentist," she said, "it gave me an entirely new insight. As long as I've been married, he has never thought of putting a camera in someone's mouth. It just goes to show what can happen with just a bit of artistic endeavour."