MAYBE it's all down to TnaG but suddenly everyone seems dead keen to trot out the cupla focal. This week Minister Michael D. - threw a drinks party at his office for the Gate Theatre to congratulate them on the success of their Beckett festival - now, naturally the Minister's intro was in Irish, but it was a very, very long intro. Not to be outdone, Michael Colgan gave an equally long, and dramatically guttural speech, as Gaeilge.
For a luvvie fest the evening was very low key - short on air kissing and silent on shrieks. For the theatre company it's very much a case of get cast in a Beckett play, see the world". They have been invited to take the entire festival to the Barbican in London next year and to Sydney in the year 2000 to coincide with the Olympics. (All of this does make you wonder why our national, isn't doing this sort of thing . . .)