As we move toward the centenary celebrations of 1916 it is important to remember the contribution made by artists and writers who, as part of the Cultural Revival, contributed to the construction of the Irish nation, writes Martin McConigley    

US actor Patrick Cronin returns to his Cork roots for an iconic role, says Colette Sheridan

FOR most of the year The Burren is more moonscape than landscape.

New Ways to Kill Your Mother

I’M just back from Achill, a wet windy outpost of mountains and cliffs, where it gets dark later than anywhere else in Europe.

Gay Byrne, Niall Tóibín and Brenda Fricker recount lasting memories from their meetings with John B Keane

ONE of the world’s top airline chiefs believes no company would consider buying Aer Lingus while its share price is so low.

MICK LALLY was one of the best-loved actors of his generation and will be dearly missed, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said.

The theatre world was tonight mourning the loss of Mick Lally, one of its most renowned actors.

Ghost Light

Internationally acclaimed playwright Brian Friel celebrated Bloomsday at James Joyce’s alma mater today where he received the university’s highest honour.

AS a blow-in — I’ve only been here for 38 years — I was taking an English friend on a walking tour round my adopted city of Cork when he pointed out something which we all take for granted.

A RADICAL new version of a famous play is being staged at the Abbey Theatre — 100 years after it caused street riots.

THE Playboy has moved with the times: a Mayo home called John Millington Synge House, built directly opposite the shebeen site where the Playboy of the Western World was set, has creature comforts such as a sauna and a Jacuzzi hot tub, along with a staircase which wouldn’t look too out of place in a production of Gone with the Wind.

‘Two or three decades of formidable theatrical achievement is more evanescent than the froth on a cappuccino: half-remembered moments in the memories of committed older theatre-goers, but no contemporary currency at all.’

ON January 27 last, RTÉ presented three programmes on Synge’s Playboy Of The Western World: Playboy 100: Playboys And Rebels (John Kelly); The Playboy Of The Western World (Garry Hynes and Druid Theatre), and Mighty Talk.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Minister for Arts John O’Donoghue, along with figures from the arts and literary worlds, led tributes yesterday to the novelist, John McGahern.