Six Murphy plays are to be staged at Dublin festival

Six Tom Murphy plays are to be staged by the National Theatre at this year's Dublin Theatre Festival, its director, Mr Fergus Linehan, announced yesterday. The festival takes place from October 1st to 13th.

Whistle in the Dark, directed by Conall Morrison, The Gigli Concert, directed by Ben Barnes, Famine, directed by Patrick Mason, The Morning After Optimism, directed by Gerry Stembridge, The Sanctuary Lamp, directed by Lynne Parker, and Bailegangaire, directed by Tom Murphy himself, will be staged at the Abbey and Peacock theatres.

The cast of the plays will take part in a staged reading of Famine at the Abbey Theatre on Sunday, October 14th. A series of "special events" associated with the playwright's work is also planned.

Michael Billington of the Guardian will conduct a public interview with Murphy at the Abbey on October 7th, and a concert of music drawn from the plays will be held at the Temple Bar Music Centre on the same day.

There will be pre-performance talks and panel discussions involving Colm Toibin, Dominic Drumgoole, Fintan O'Toole, Tom Kilroy, Jim Nolan, Conor McPherson and John Waters at the festival.

The National Theatre's artistic director, Ben Barnes, said Tom Murphy had "a long and fruitful relationship with the Abbey since the 1960s" and it was appropriate that it should be celebrated.

The playwright's contribution had been "enormous", as had been his influence, he said. Most of the directors involved in the planned season were of the younger generation, which he felt was very significant. Staging the plays during the Dublin festival would also allow them be seen by an international audience, which was not as common for Murphy plays.

Another highlight of this year's festival will be the staging at the Gate Theatre of three new short plays each night by Irish playwrights. They include The Yalta Games by Brian Friel, White Horses by Neil Jordan, his first play, and Come on Over by Conor McPherson.

English actor Simon Callow will present his one-man The Mystery of Charles Dickens from October 8th to 13th at the Gaiety. Pete Postlethwaite will premiere his one-man show, Scaramouche Jones, at the Samuel Beckett Theatre from October 4th to 13th.

Controversial director Robert Wilson will present his production of Woyzeck at the Gaiety from October 3rd to 6th. It will include 12 songs by Tom Waits.

Roddy Doyle returns to the stage after a long absence with Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner. Dealing with racism in Ireland it can be seen at the Andrews Lane Theatre throughout the festival period.

One of the world's great theatre directors, Peter Brook, brings a production to Dublin for the first time. Le Costume, from Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, will be at the Tivoli Theatre from Wednesday October 3rd until October 6th.

The festival itself is producing Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer in Ich Liebe Dich. It is an "unsanitised" account of the world of Kurt Weill which promises to bring him "back into the gutter where he belonged" as Mr Linehan put it yesterday. It will be at the Tivoli from October 8th to 13th.

Details at 01-677 2600 or www.eircomtheatrefestival.com