The men in black react with KGB-like precision as the embassy car pulls up. Alan McQuillan, from Kill in Co Kildare, moves quickly along the carpeted (red, of course) steps. The theatre manager whispers into his walkie-talkie, gimlet eyes scanning the foyer. With 16 years of experience, he has everything under control. The vips will rest easy in their dress-circle seats at the Gaiety Theatre.
American embassy counsellors Earle and Barbara Scarlett, along with a guest from Jamaica, student Michelle Rousseau, walk in, relaxed, smiling, ready to enjoy the opening night of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
More guests arrive. Mike Murphy slips in quietly. A handsome duo, actors Stephen Brennan from the Dublin dynasty and Lisa Dwan from Athlone, create a stir. Another handsome sight is Sheila Hampson s trolling in on the arm of her partner, Sheamus Smith, film censor of Ireland.
Kate Kjoelby from Odense in Denmark and her boyfriend, Duncan Maitland, formerly of Picture House, are about to go in too. They met three years ago and fell deeply in love. They've been together ever since.
Also together and chatting away as they wait for the curtain to go up are the great octogenarian, actor Eamon Kelly, and his Listowel-born wife, Maire Kelly. They enjoy seeing the members of the Mobil Touring Theatre including Dulcie Gray, an English octogenarian who plays Madame de Rosemonde, strut their stuff.
Others enjoying the play are Raidio na Gaeltachta star Seosaimhin Ni Bheaglaoich, who is just back from an Easter holiday in Iceland. She is here with her friend, Aideen Friel, who works with Oxfam. Friel is just back from a holiday in Milltown Malbay in Co Clare.