The remarkable Rachel O’Connor's acting accolades continue

The tremendous achievement of Rachel O’Connor in receiving the best actress award for a superlative portrayal of an ageing Margaret Thatcher in Shaun Byrne’s ‘Margaret’ at the recent RTE All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone was a truly magnificent and well deserved accolade for the long standing member of the Ballyshannon Drama Society (BDS).

In April she also won the best actress award at the Ulster Drama Festival Finals.

Add this to her 2023 achievement when Rachel won the best actress award in a supporting role as Claire in Edward Albee’s ‘A Delicate Balance’, by the BDS again, at the ‘All Ireland’ elevates her into a special pantheon of actors on the Irish stage.

And while such accolades are worthy, the backdrop to the last two years paint her wins across an even greater canvass, as she was diagnosed with stage four cancer, while on the drama circuit last year and for which she has already received chemotherapy and continues Immunotherapy treatment.

Rachel O'Connor as Claire in 'A Delicate Balance', a production by Ballyshannon Drama Society in the Abbey Arts Centre last year and which ultimately saw her scoop the Best supporting award at the 2023 All Ireland Drama Festival Finals in Athlone : Picture Thomas Gallagher

In every respect, Rachel is a truly inspirational role model, especially when most expected her to withdraw from her acting and directing roles in 2023.

Reflecting on her most recent award she said it was quickly back down to earth after the initial euphoria of the win sunk in.

“Yes, it’s back to basics, the housework and the dinner have to be done. It’s kind of like a wee bubble. Half the country doesn’t know what you’d be at, although it has been very nice and people are congratulating me right, left and centre. And people I didn’t even think would be aware of it. The country is full of bad news and it is nice for something good to happen”, she recalled.

A Belleek woman “born and bred” and married to a supportive Seán - also involved on the sound aspect of the production - and three grown children, her talent initially raised its head as a hair stylist with Peter Mark, training in Dublin and Belfast.

Her Dad Frank Garvin was a customs officer, so she had a cross border backdrop from the beginning.

ABOVE: Rachel O'Connor as Mrs. Ledwidge in ''Faint Voices'' by John McKenna, at 'An Evening of Drama & Comedy' by Ballyshannon Drama Society in association with Donegal Bay & Bluestack Festival in the Abbey Arts Centre Picture Thomas Gallagher

Her initial love of drama and musicals was cultivated when she went to secondary school at the Mercy Convent in Ballyshannon.

“When I was still at the Convent I did a play with the late Patsy Croal. He auditioned me for the role of a maid in a play called the Heiress. But then he had somebody lined up for that and while it didn’t come to fruition, I was cast in the lead. That was probably my first big role,” she remembered.

As she wasn’t “a hectic singer” and “in those days the orchestra could drown you out and you didn’t have to be a very good singer”, school roles eventually morphed into the acclaimed Donegal Drama Circle.

“Paul Buckley was at the helm at that time. We did three nights a week in July and August for the tourists, in what was then the O'Cleirigh Hall. I think I did the drama circuit twice with them, one being ‘Making History’ by Brian Friel.

After that Rachel was away for a few years, came home, got married and had three children.

ABOVE: Moya Ferguson presenting Rachel O'Connor (right) from Ballyshannon Drama Society with the Best Actress Open (Eoin Carney Award) at the 71st Ballyshannon Drama Festival in March of this year. Photo Thomas Gallagher

“When they grew up a wee bit, I joined the Borderline Players in Pettigo and would have done a few comedies and pantos before later joining the Ballyshannon Drama Society and I have been with them now for years,” she said.

Rachel recalls being on the three act circuit in recent times, with things really taking off after they won the confined section of the All Ireland finals with ‘Steel Magnolias’ by Robert Harling at the Wexford Opera House in 2011, with another actress and pal Patricia Keane scooped best female actress.

Rachel’s achievements are all the more merited as she has never had any professional training, rather as she describes, she has done “a load of courses and workshops”.

This includes a summer course every year in Limerick with the Drama League of Ireland.

“I’ve done more courses that I’ve had hot dinners, but I just love it and I just started going to one in Birr in Offaly,” she joked.

Asked whether she had any professional ambitions to ‘tread the boards’ she reflected:

ABOVE: In another production in which Rachel appeared. Cast from Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' a production by Ballyshannon Drama Society in the Abbey Arts Centre, seated l-r: Rachel O'Connor as Lady Bracknell, Louise Larkin as Gwendolen Fairfax and Sinead Luke as Cecily Cardew. Back row l-r: Sean Donegan as Algernon Moncrieff, Terence McEneaney as John 'Jack' Worthing, Kevin Lilly as Lane, Mark Kirby as Merriman, Tony Liston as Dr. Chasuble and Trish Keane as Miss Prism Picture: Thomas Gallagher

“I suppose, as a young one, when I didn’t know what role I was going to take, I probably would have had aspirations, but I never pursued it at that level. But you know what, I’ve done so many things and I have never missed the opportunity to improve, whether training or whatever, so I’ve probably done as much as I have wanted to do.

“Doing the circuit is a great experience, because you do eight different festivals and it is like another Director having a look at your production and telling you where you could improve in various areas and tells you as it is. You hear the good and the bad and you have to take both,” she added.

Rachel is now happy to take the kudos when they come as anytime a Ballyshannon production got to Athlone, she got a nomination for best actress but never won it.

Last year it happened unexpectedly as she was both acting and directing.

“I got best supporting actress last year and it was great. Then this year I was lucky enough to get the big one.

“It was also tough last year as I got cancer. I was on the circuit and it was just after Easter. I wasn’t feeling great and was tired, which I put down to the exhaustion of the Directing and acting but it ended up that I had stage four cancer.”

After finishing Athlone, she went for biopsies and discovered that the cancer had started in the bladder and spread to the liver and the nodes in her back and lungs

“It was pretty heavy stuff,” she explained.

ABOVE: Trish Keane as Agnes, Rachel O'Connor as Clair and Richard Hurst as Tobais in a scene from 'A Delicate Balance', a production by Ballyshannon Drama Society in the Abbey Arts Centre in 2023. Picture Thomas Gallagher

“Once I did the chemo, I flew through it and I never looked back. Of course, you have to have the backing of your family, which I have.”

She also refused to pull out of Ballyshannon’s Drama Society contribution to the All Ireland finals last year and the journey has continued with ‘Margaret’ this year thanks to the efforts of both Shaun Byrne and Monica Doherty and team.

“I’m on immunotherapy which is ongoing and is fortnightly for the foreseeable future, but I feel great. I’m never going to be rid of the cancer and everything is stable and that is good, so I am great and I have the hair back and doing ‘Margaret’ has been a great focus for me.”

And we are all the more ‘great’ for having Rachel amongst us, one of the finest acting talents in the land and a genuine humble lady, a mum and a wife who epitomises the very best in making things happen, no matter what the challenges in life are.