One of the women who accused former Gate director Michael Colgan of inappropriate behaviour has said she will not engage with the independent expert appointed to examine the issue.

There is something of George Orwell’s Animal Farm about the arts — “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.

Relatives of those who died in the 1981 Stardust tragedy will be told today if their long fight for a fresh State investigation has been successful.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has called for an independent investigation into allegations of harassment at the Gate Theatre, against its former director Michael Colgan.

Abuse and sexual discrimination have always been part and parcel of the theatre in Ireland, right back to the old days of the Abbey and the Gate, writes Terry Prone

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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

Michael Gambon who connected with young and not so young Harry Potter fans worldwide as their beloved Albus Dumbledore is to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Film and Television Academy.

John Kelly is an artist. His father is from Cork, and mother from Bristol. The family emigrated to Australia in 1965, the year of John’s birth. Kelly has lived in all three countries and for the past decade has resided in West Cork. This week, his exhibition, John Kelly: A Group Show, will open at Uillinn in Skibbereen.

Our regular arts writers select their highlights of the year. Today, it’s Alan O’Riordan’s turn.

She was a woman of many names. Also known as ‘Mary O’Connor’, ‘Mary the Shop’, and ‘Mary the Pensioner’, it was the title of ‘Mary John B’ that charmed her the most.

A REVIVAL of Tom Murphy’s magnificent play, The Gigli Concert, begins in the Gate Theatre tonight, and for Denis Conway, the show is a case of déjà vu.

MUSIC NEWS: The inestimable Kate Bush has struck a blow for those of us Luddites who seethe with rage at the glowing blanket of smartphones held aloft at gigs.

Cocaine, obsessive love and poisonous wit all play a part in The Vortex, says Alan O’Riordan

Modern communications and dance and theatre are merging.

The home of dance in Cork has been selected for a prestigious scheme that will help it connect with existing and new audiences through digital marketing.

DURING the preamble to I’ll Go On, Barry McGovern peered out at the audience. “You can’t leave,” he said, “because you’re afraid it might be worse elsewhere.” The pained laughter continued for 90 minutes.

Anita Reeves is relishing her new role as a worker in a nursing home, writes Colette Sheridan.

In the play An Enemy of the People, one man stands for right, says Pádraic Killeen.

Patrick Moy in the title role of Richard II.

“Lord help the world if everybody took to doing the right thing,” says Mrs Warren (Sorcha Cusack) in the Gate Theatre’s new production of George Bernard Shaw’s play, Mrs Warren’s Profession.

FOR five decades, Gay Byrne has taken a central role in Ireland’s national conversation.

Pic 1: Broadcaster Gay Byrne and his wife Kathleen Watkins at the opening night of Declan Hughes’s play Last Summer, in the Gate Theatre.

A Woman of No Importance is Wilde at his best — and full of resonance for modern audiences, writes Carl Dixon

Tom Creed promises an innovative but accessible programme for the 16th Cork Midsummer Festival, says Carl Dixon

What I do: I am a soprano and a traditional Irish musician.

A DUBLIN actress is about to take her first steps in the shadow of screen and stage legends such as Richard Harris and Donald Sutherland.

THE historic Everyman Palace Theatre has appointed internationally acclaimed British-born director Michael Barker-Caven as its new artistic director.

A CHARMING and classic Edwardian Dublin property, home to theatre director Michael Colgan and his actor wife Susan FitzGerald, is for sale in select Rathgar, and its even more select Orwell Park.

Irish theatre director Michael Colgan today said he was truly surprised to be awarded an honorary OBE by the British queen.

Playwright Brian Friel and Dublin’s Gate Theatre were today celebrating winning a prestigious critics award at the Edinburgh International Festival.

IRELAND’S own Oscar Schindler, a pirate queen and dancehall visit from Satan himself — will all feature in documentaries on TG4 this autumn.

LIMERICK’S galleries, theatres and castles will host free cultural events on September 19 which has been designated Culture Night in the city.

ENTRANCE fees for plays, exhibitions and other cultural events at publicly funded facilities will be cut for one day every year under a €245 million package to boost interest in the arts.

A talk on the history of Dublin’s Gate Theatre and its celebrated relationship with the works of Oscar Wilde is among the highlights of the capital’s culture night, it was announced today.

AIB chairman and former attorney general Dermot Gleeson has been named as the chairman of University College Cork’s governing body.

RECENT reports of drunk and disorderly behaviour on the ‘Paris-style’ Liffey boardwalk will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who frequents Dublin city centre, especially in the evening.

Cities around the world will today host events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s birthday.

One of Ireland’s finest playwrights, Brian Friel, is to be presented with a major award by President Mary McAleese today in an honorary ceremony.

BRITISH playwright Harold Pinter, a master of sparse dialogue and menacing silences who has been an outspoken critic of the US-led war in Iraq, was the surprise winner of the Nobel literature prize yesterday.

A cast of top actors gathered in Dublin today to toast the 75th birthday of British playwright Harold Pinter through his work.