Graffiti Theatre Company in Cork has appointed Niall Cleary as artistic director. He has spent spent the last two years as the theatre’s head of outreach and education.

The Commitments author, Roddy Doyle, was in Cork yesterday to help a new generation of Irish children find the “write stuff”.

Since setting up in 2006, Galway theatre company Mephisto have rapidly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with.