Can you keep a secret? Only a handful of us were in on Michael Colgan's news at the opening performance of Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw at the Gate Theatre earlier this week. The Gate director was covertly thrilled but sworn to silence. As well as celebrating his 50th birthday later this month (Monday 17th) he was preparing to be conferred with a doctorate of laws by Trinity College Dublin yesterday. "I'm thrilled," he said. "It's a lovely birthday present . . . I'm just delighted because Trinity gave me so much. It gave me a career and all my best friends - without having to go to the library." As to his starsign, Cancer, he's "soft on the inside, hard on the outside", according to himself.
But who else knew on Tuesday night? There he is talking to Riverdance duo John McColgan and Moya Doherty. There he goes, saying "Hi" to Liz O'Donnell TD, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, and her husband, Rossapenna man Michael Carson. Are playwright Bernard Farrell and his wife, Gloria, in the know? Well, Dubliner Philip Kilmartin and his wife, Valenilua, who comes from Tonga in the South Pacific, do know, 'cos, well On the Town asks them if they've heard, and they hadn't. Could ESB man Barney Whelan and archeologist Mags Gowen know? Well, the news is out today so we can all say is Comhghairdeachas, a Dhochtuir Mhicheail.
