Offaly's Anna Doherty: Where magic and beauty meet

Yes, folks, it’s that time of the year again! Tickets for this year’s Tullamore panto performance performance of "Beauty and the Beast"go on sale at 10am on Friday, October 23.

With the big day drawing close, we took the opportunity to catch up with the show’s leading lady, Anaa Dpherty. Very aptly cast in the role of ‘Belle’, Anna, living up to her growing reputation as one of the finest talents in the country, will be bringing the character to life in not one, but TWO productions of ‘Beauty And The Beast’ this year.

Beginning with the Tullamore show, she told us all about it... “Chris [Corroon] has written the script this year. He wrote it last year as well. It’s the same kind of ‘Beauty And the Beast’ story, but has a little bit of a twist to it with a few additional characters in there as well. While you know the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, it is a little bit different as well. It's a bit fun. You have all the same kind of characters that you've had throughout the years, all the familiar faces. Chris is just so talented, his scriptwriting is great. So it’s something everyone can look forward to.”

Anna continued, “And then in Ballymun, that’s Karl Dawson’s panto. And again, a ridiculously talented man with what he does as well. It’s the same story, the general gist of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’, but again with a little bit of a twist. Same kind of characters, but with a few other ones thrown in there as well. There’s a great comedic aspect to that one as well.”

In the Ballymun production, Anna will share the lead role of Belle with Orlagh Dillon, while also sharing a stage with the legendary June Rodgers.

What’s it like for Anna trying to learn two different versions of the same story?

“Yeah, like it's hard [haha], it's never something I've done before, it's just something completely new for me. And there's a really quick turn-over between the two of them. Tullamore finishes on the 13th and Ballymun starts on the 17th of December. It's a really quick turnaround. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge because while it's the same story, they’re quite different in how they're written. But I'm looking forward to it. Obviously the days are different for rehearsals and stuff. It’s trying not to kind of learn them side by side. I feel like I'm going to have to learn one first and then learn the other, just so I'm not really confused for myself! The last couple of years for me, in the Tullamore panto, the kind of princess roles haven’t been involved as much, whereas ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Belle is in a lot! So, it's a big change in that aspect.

My first year in Tullamore was in ‘Sleeping Beauty’, she sleeps for three- quarters of the show! I was only in a couple of scenes there. And then last year, I was in more, but again, not to half the extent of what I’m in the two of them this year. So it will be a big challenge, but I'm looking forward to it.

I think for me with the panto, I adore it so much, and I think it's because we have some kids that come down to us afterwards, and to see the look on little girls’ faces, because I know this year they’ll be coming in their little Belle dresses, and they look at you as if you’re a real princess! You can see the magic of how they see things. It’s that side of the panto that I love, that it’s just so special for them. When I was small, we always went to pantos and stuff, but we never would have went up afterwards and actually met anyone. To be able to go in and meet who you think is the actual Belle! You see the light in their eyes when that happens, and I absolutely love it. And I know this year there's going to be kids and they're going to be dressed fully in their little yellow Belle dresses. And I just can't wait to see it. I really can’t! You can see the magic, and I love it!”

How does Anna prepare herself to ‘become’ somebody else when she’s taking on a new role?

“Yeah, there's a few different processes, I suppose. For panto and musicals, while they're very similar, they’re two very different things. For the panto, I just enjoy those so much. It’s getting into a Disney princess mindset, which is so fun. I love it. But for musicals, I tend to do a little bit more research. I like to sit down and watch a couple of different iterations of the show. I try to figure out where their head [the character's] is at. You don't want to do it the exact same way as someone else has done it. So it's kind of a case of having a look at a couple of different versions, and saying well, I like this and I like this, and I like this from certain parts, and then working on something that you can make your own as well. You look at it yourself and think how can I make this as good as I possibly can.”

And when it comes to keeping all those lines in her head and in the right order, are there any tricks of the trade that she’s picked up along the way?

“The lines, in particular, that depends on what you're in. The singing stuff is just repetition. Everything is just repetition! It's literally going home after you've recorded your lines in your rehearsals, and literally just singing it over and over, and over and over again. Well that's my way anyway. If I have a harmony line, I sing it over and over, and over and over again until you know it, and then move on to the next one. It's rigorous. It’s just muscle memory after that. The dancing is again repetition, in your own home watching the videos, and drilling and drilling, until it's just muscle memory. You could spend an hour just drilling. I don't think people realize how much goes in behind the scenes, but when you enjoy it, you don't really feel it.”

In terms of finding the emotional truth of what a character might be feeling or going through, how does Anna find that space within herself?

“It's something I'm still learning myself. Musical theatre is a mix of everything, the acting, singing, and dancing. I'd be confident enough with the singing and dancing, it’s the acting bit for me, that I have to work on that little bit more. You try and focus on the head space of what would my character do? Not necessarily what I would do, but what my kind of character would do? I haven’t really been in too many productions where I've had to have a very heavy emotional background to it. It's all linked back to the research part of it, to be able to fully understand the character first, before you even try to emote how they're feeling. It's something I'm constantly trying to work on.”

Anna is preparing for four different productions at the moment, something that wouldn’t even be possible if she wasn’t ambitious. But how does she balance those ambitions with all of the other realities of life?

“It's a hard place to be, because it's something I adore so much that absolutely, I'd love for it to be something that I could do full-time, all the time, and it could be something that could keep me going. But there are the kind of practical aspects of it that you do need to think about at times. Like, there was a stage there for a while where I really did consider going away and studying properly, trying to give it a good whack. But you have to take everything into consideration, being away from home and all that kind of thing as well. I just feel like for the time being for me anyway, it's more so something that I thoroughly and absolutely and really enjoy...as a hobby. For the time being. There’s been MORE things that I’ve wanted to go for this year, and I've had to pull myself back from. Like I said, I love to be busy. And because I have so much love for shows, I feel like I can do anything. But I can’t split myself in ten! So, while there is absolutely ambition there, and I want to do as much as I can, as best as I can, but you can only do so much and go so far without crashing. So that's kind of the space I’m in at the minute.”

Anna recently celebrated becoming a county champion with her native Kilcormac-Kiloughey. Has she noticed any characteristics that have helped her excel in both arenas?

“For sure, there's this kind of thing of everyone needing to work together. Everyone's of the one mind, everyone's working towards the same goal. You want to get to your Senior A final, or you want to get to whatever your goal is for the year. Everyone is of the same mindset, everyone wants to get to the same place. So they are similar in that kind of way. I love that teamwork in everything.”