MONDAY'S lunch party to announce the Abbey's writer-in-residence proved again, the truth of "the adage "Behind every successful man there's an even more successful woman". When A. Gerard Murphy, the chairman of Anglo Irish Bankcorp (the company which funds the bursary) confessed his wife had written his speech for him, Dermot Bolger, recipient of the award quick as a flash replied that his wife wrote - most of his plays.
Bernie Bolger, a nurse by profession, and their two children, Diarmuid and Donnacha, just smiled. Most of the rest of the guests were made up by the cast of Tarry Flynn - all 29 of them and also there was Conall Morrison, who adapted Paddy Kavanagh's words and, as director, was hard at work before the play's opening night next week.
There, were plenty of other thespians dining in the bar including Jimmy Murphy, author of A Picture of Paradise (in rehearsal at the moment) and not to be confused with Johnny Murphy, who appears in it. Both J. Murphys, along with other cast members Barbara Brennan, Paul Bennett, Michael Hayes and Liam Carney were there, joined by Bernard Farrell, a previous writer in residence now working on a new play for the Abbey, and Peter Sheridan, playwright and director. Abbey director Patrick Mason; the Arts Council's Phelim Donlon and Tony O'Dalaigh made up the party.