A play about "a stand-up who goes off the rails" drew a host of fans, friends and theatre folk to Dublin's Project on its opening night.
The director of Entertainment, Jimmy Fay says that the main character "is a Lutheran and as isolated as you can possibly get in this country . . . He's a guy trying to exorcise the ghost of his past upbringing".
Before the lights went down, Alex Johnston, writer and main performer of the Bedrock Theatre Co production, was busy backstage preparing for his performance.
"He comes from a long line of theatre people," said his mother, Annie Johnston, who was there with her friend, Marie Comiskey.
Johnston's grandfather was the writer and playwright, Denis Johnston, his aunt is the writer Jennifer Johnston, and his fiancée, Ioanna Anderson, is also a playwright.
Another playwright, John Breen, artistic director of the Ballina-based Yewtree Theatre Co, also came to the show's opening night. Breen's next production will be The Playboy of the Western World at the Cork Opera House, which opens on Tuesday, September 30th. Breen's own play, Alone We Stand, which commemorates Munster's rugby triumph over the All Blacks in 1978, will open in his home-town of Limerick at the end of October, 25 years after the game.
The foyer of Project was buzzing before the play. Richard Cook, of the Murphy's Cat Laughs Festival, came along to see Mud, which is playing in Project's Space Upstairs, having opened earlier this week.
Ali Curran, of the Peacock Theatre, came to Entertainment's opening night. Paula Shields, administrator of Theatre Shop, advises to watch out for the the organisation's first online handbook, which will be launched in readiness for this year's Theatre Shop conference, which takes place during the Dublin Theatre Festival.