Tonight sees the opening of the third Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival.

In this age of 140-character tweets and text speak, it’s a name that doesn’t quite trip off the tongue, but then again, why should it? It’s a multi-arts festival that brings a stunning array of artists, thinkers and performers to the island town of Enniskillen. No need to dispense with capital letters or insert the odd @ in the title to grab attention -- the quality of the programme does not require such grammar-twisting tricks.

As well as celebrating the work of old Portoran Samuel Beckett as a total artist, this festival celebrates Enniskillen and its hinterland in the most wonderful of ways. It brings readings to the islands of Upper and Lower Lough Erne, a sound and dance performance to the Marble Arch Caves, concerts to churches, and speakers like BBC’s John Simpson, writer Ed Villiamy and scholar Germaine Greer to speak at South West College. It’s fantastically refreshing to see our town itself reborn for the ten-plus days of the festival, becoming in the eyes of those who travel here as Beckett town. It also gives us an incredible chance to see performances that we normally would never get a chance to see unless we travelled to a major city. Ever expected to see a former Bond villain, Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner at your local theatre? Well, now is the chance. Klaus Maria Brandauer who played opposite Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again appears at the Ardhowen. A number of events are free, many will be inspirational. We should all try to make the most of this.