Moya and the obstetrician deliver a new ‘baby’

PROFESSOR Chris Fitzpatrick was for many years Master of the Coombe, and delivered many babies into the world. So it’s high praise indeed when Moya Doherty, chairwoman of RTE and producer of Riverdance, notes that “what he’s actually really good at is delivering words”.

Fitzpatrick, who has also been published in the Sunday Independent, has now delivered a play And Spring Shall Come which will be staged at the Gaiety Theatre on Sunday, March 26, for a one-night-only gala performance in aid of the Combined Paediatric Cardiology Service based in the Coombe Hospital. The play unfolds against a backdrop of 800 years of Anglo-Irish history, featuring the words and thoughts of 70 influential poets and writers.

Doherty was the linchpin of the project. She introduced Fitzpatrick to Ruan Magan, an acclaimed director with whom she had worked previously. She also enlisted Peter Canning (who worked on Dancing With The Stars and won an Emmy for his work at the Sochi Winter Olympics) to do the lighting for the project while her son, Mark McColgan, worked on the setting and visualisation of the production. Music for the piece is by Bafta winner Pol Brennan of Clannad, and the work boasts a star-studded cast, including Love/Hate alumnus Aoibhinn McGinty.

“I think people will love it,” says Moya.

Tickets are now on sale by contacting friends@coombe.ie or lforde@coombe.ie or through Ticketmaster at www. ticketmaster.ie