It’s the end of an era for Irish theatre as Michael Colgan bows out at the Gate. He tells Alan O’Riordan about an eventful 33 years

THE writer Brian Friel, who died aged 86 yesterday, did as much as anyone, and far, far more than most, to try to help us untangle our ideas of ourselves and how we are inescapably the children of our past.

OWEN Roe is one of Irish theatre’s most prized actors.

ONE of the biggest Irish theatre tours this year will bring Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, staged by Town Hall Theatre, to 18 venues, including Cork’s Everyman Palace Theatre from September 5.