Oh Lordy. It's so BIG. A twisty, lascivious conjunction of iceberg, Neolithic burial chamber and Habitat window, the freshly refurbished Project Arts Centre goes on forever. Truth to tell, we're rather lost. Cheek by jowl with canape-nibblers one moment, adrift in bizarre muddle of freewheeling post-modern exhibits the next. And we'd only nipped upstairs in search of the loo. Spookier still - nary a luminary in sight. Trading howyas with the hoi polloi is all very well but, pardon me, where are the famous people?
Hang on a sec - celeb at twelve o'clock, specifically chameleonic director Neil Jordan, a ghastly, glistening slough of skin clinging rapaciously to his nape. "Look out Neil, it's after your BLOOD!" we almost (but don't quite) holler. At second glance the reptilian mess resolves itself into Jordan's leather jacket, one ostensibly comprised of mouldering gecko hide. But hey, the guy's a zillionaire. If that's his thing, who are we to frown? Besides, he's got more pressing concerns (and not merely getting stuck into the complementary spread); buoyed by the success of Oscar-nominated Graham Greene-adaptation The End of the Affair (noteworthy, if for no other reason, for making the usually glacial Ralph Fiennes appear half-way human), he's settling down to a new project. Lucrezia - sounds like an early Sisters of Mercy track - is billed as a red-blooded recounting of the pervy derring-do among Renaissance Italy bluebloods. An orgy in the Vatican features, we are informed, so don't bring the kids. Expect long-time Jordan muse Stephen Rea to rear his head at some juncture.
Lounging on the roof garden (more a concrete enclosure, really) we stumble (figuratively, having eschewed the freebie dwinkies) into flame-topped playwright Frank McGuinness, merrily shooting the breeze with actress Olwen Fouere. Having read of Frank's alleged stoicism, his disdain for frivolity, we expect him to cold-shoulder our blithe request for low-down tittle tattle. But no, Frank is upbeat. Just home from a critically lauded London run of Dolly's Kitchen, he is limbering up for imminent production of The Barbaric Comedies, a sprawling adaptation of a trio of Spanish plays. Cheers Frank!
Also in attendance: artist Dorothy Cross, recently touched down from Hanover's Expo 2000 fair. Dorothy and the Project go way back; she was on-board last year's Chiasm programme, which had as its backdrop a Co Galway handball alley. Near by, Expo cultural director Fiach Mac Conghail chews the fat with former Dublin Theatre Festival main-man Tony O Dalaigh, soon to be guiding light at Blanchardstown Art Centre.
Heading the corporate posse, George McGrath, chief executive of Internet provider Ocean, hobnobs with actress daughter Maeve McGrath. George is happy - Ocean recently celebrated its first birthday. Graphic designer Gillian Murphy, responsible for the Project's engaging new logo, is spied alongside Rick La Vert, a main man at Carton La Vert, who expounds on ambitious projects in development for the Department of the Environment and An Taisce. Oh, and film-maker Gerry Stembridge pops by later on. Gerry cranks up a gear this summer with the release of his new movie About Adam. Set in Dublin 4, this romantic comedy stars moody, broody Stuart Townsend alongside Frances O'Connor, Kate Hudson and Rosaleen Linehan and will, we are assured, be an absolute hoot.