QUAD DINNER AND THEATRE EVENING
On Tuesday 16 August members of the Queen's University Association Dublin (QUAD) enjoyed a delicious, beautifully presented pre-theatre meal at the Michelin-starred Chapter One restaurant, where graduates and their guests caught up with old friends and made some new ones.
The fine dining was the prelude to a visit to the Gate Theatre for a performance of Somerset Maugham's sparkling comedy, The Constant Wife.
Directed by Alan Stanford, Maugham's modern and amusing take on marriage and infidelity gave us a quick-witted, alternative view of how to deal with an extra-marital affair. With a clever dialogue, an elaborate set and magnificent costumes, the well-acted play was a good old-fashioned, highly enjoyable stage production.
The Constant Wife is familiar to most – the play's main character Constance Middleton is a devoted, well-to-do wife who is blissfully oblivious to the ongoing affair between her husband and her best friend Marie Louise Durham. Meanwhile her mother Mrs Culver, younger sister Martha and friend Barbara Fawcett are at loggerheads over whether to tell or conceal the awful news from Constance. All, however, is not as it seems and Constance had some big surprises in store for her husband, family and friends. The result was a very entertaining night out in one of Dublin’s finest theatres.
The dinner/theatre evening is one of a number of events for members organised by the QUAD committee each year and, like most, it was open to non-member Queen's graduates considering joining the Association.
On Thursday 1 December, QUAD will once again attend the Dublin Choral Foundation's annual Christmas Concert at the National Concert Hall. Directed by Queen's graduate Ite Donovan and with singing by the Lassus Scholars and Piccolo Lasso, this has always been very popular with members.
QUAD would be delighted to welcome members of other Queen's associations to this event. further details of which will be sent out later this year.