THE Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre are among the majors companies confirmed for this year's Dublin Theatre Festival.
The preliminary programme for the 1996 festival, which was announced yesterday, includes the RSC's production of The Comedy of Errors, as well as the RNT's Dealer's Choice, a comedy by Patrick Marber. The Comedy of Errors will be performed in the main hall at Dublin City University, the first time the venue has been used by the festival.
Also scheduled are the West End theatre version of Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting, and a visit from a Russian clown, Slava Polunin.
An extensive programme of Irish work will include a festival within a festival "of experimental theatre work featuring a number of companies whose work is at the edge of theatre" hosted by Project Arts Centre. When the festival begins, Project will be operating from a new warehouse base, as its present Essex Street home will be under renovation.
The Abbey's main contribution will be She Stoops To Folly, a new version of Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield by Tom Murphy. Bernard Farrell's latest play, Stella by Starlight, will run at the Gate, while Rough Magic will perform Stewart Parker's Northern Star at the Samuel Beckett Centre. The Galway company, Macnas, will be represented by the final part of its "Celtic" trilogy, Balor.
The new festival chairman is Ms Eithne Healy, who is a member of the Arts Council and chairs the National Association of Youth Drama. Announcing the programme, the deputy director, Mr Fergus Linehan, advised all present to "watch this space as there is a lot more to come".