THE BIG READ: Anna Doherty – a young Offaly star on the rise

LIFE being life, there was far longer than I ever wanted there to be between the day when Anna and I first met, and the moment when I eventually heard her sing for the first time. But even so, I was certain from the earliest days of our time working together in Guy Clothing in Tullamore that Anna was more - and much more - than just another someone who happened to be able to 'hold a tune'. And the reason why was simple. Anna - humble as she is - will always be the last one to even realise this, but there's no question that she has a certain 'presence' about her that can easily and justifiably be described as being 'star-quality'.

There's an element of class about everything she does. It's there in the way she carries herself. It's there in her easy, natural, genuine way of being around people. It's there in her work ethic. And it's there again in her effortless ability to have that same big, bright smile on her face at the beginning and at the end of even the toughest of days, and all the way through them as well. In short, there's a realness about Anna that's a rare find. So... if she could actually sing too, as well as being all that...!

And man, can she sing!

After finally having the pleasure of seeing Anna on stage for the first time during Tullamore Musical Society's brilliant 'Backwards Broadway' production last September, I'll admit it: I felt a little bit full of myself. Because I couldn't have been more right. Anna, ladies and gentlemen, is a star. Whether or not the kind of 'fame' that her talent so, so, deserves is something that ever finds her, well, that doesn't even matter really. Because no matter what happens, every time she steps on a stage and sings, she's gonna shine. She's gonna shine, and take peoples' breath away, and make them dream, and make them cry sometimes. But leave them smiling always.

If you're ever lucky enough to meet her and get to know her in any way at all, you'll find out that as well as being outrageously talented, she's also one of the loveliest, kindest, most humble, funny, and authentic human beings you'll ever cross paths with.

I had the privilege of crossing paths again with Anna for tea and a chat the week after she wowed in 'Backwards Broadway', and Anna told me how she became involved in that Tullamore Musical Society show...

“They had a workshop for their ‘We Will Rock You’ musical that’s coming up in February, so I went into that. It was a dance workshop, and it was great craic. It gave us a taste of what the show is going to be like. It’s Queen, so of course it’s going to be good. When we were there, they mentioned this concert. I had done a concert with them years ago, not as a member, it was open to everyone who wanted to be involved, and it was the same thing, a fundraising concert. Back in 2022, I think. So when this one was mentioned, I messaged the secretary afterwards, found out if it was open to everyone as well, and they said yeah and they’d be delighted to have me. It was only a five-week turnover, so it was quick. But Enda, the musical director, is amazing, he’s class at what he does. And the group was brilliant too, really nice. I didn’t put myself forward for anything, I was just hoping to be there, in the background. But I ended up getting a message from John, the chairperson, saying, ‘Look, we want to put you in for maybe two or three songs as a soloist’, and I was like, ‘Oh! O.k, this is interesting!’ [Laughs]. John knew me from the panto last year, so he knew I wasn’t terrible [laughs]. And I was delighted, because I was genuinely hoping and happy just to be there.”

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So Anna will soon be back on stage once again with Tullamore Musical Society for their brand new production of We Will Rock You...

“Yeah, I’m very excited! I’ll be playing one of the Ga-Ga Girls. Well, it’s all Queen music, so the score itself is class! I just saw it being advertised and I thought it would be great craic. And I’ve heard such good things about Tullamore Musical Society, and they’re obviously hugely successful. They have so many experienced performers in it that it’s a great place to go to learn from other people. I’m young, I’m only kind of getting into local societies now. I obviously did stuff when I was younger with Midland Drama School, youth stuff, the whole way along from six up to eighteen. And then I was involved in Galway University Musical Society as well. But you don’t get the same kind of exposure there, as you would [in Tullamore] around so many experienced people. There’s people with ten, twenty, thirty years of experience. Even the way they carry themselves, you can learn so much just by looking at them performing. It’s a great opportunity to literally just learn too, to be honest.”

For those who might not know, I asked Anna to describe who exactly The Ga-Ga Girls are...

“The storyline of ‘We Will Rock You’ is so hard to even tell, but it’s a bit whacky! [Laughs]. It’s based in the future, and basically, they’ve gotten rid of rock music. It doesn’t exist. We live on this place called the i-planet, where everyone is basically a carbon-copy of each other. All almost robots, in a sense. So the Ga-Ga girls are essentially some of those people. Their brains have been programmed to kind of forget about rock and to focus on whatever the i-planet wants you to focus on. It’s a fun role. It kind of has a ‘Mean Girls’ aspect to it. It’s gonna be fun, definitely! Rehearsals started two weeks ago, so we’re in full-swing now."

I wondered how did Anna come down from the high of being involved in a show like Backwards Broadway? How did she just wake up to the next Monday morning and go about getting on with a ‘normal’ week again?

“It’s a little bit depressing after something like that finishes! [Laughs]. Because you’re on such a high afterwards. But I suppose, what gets me through anyway, is knowing that there’s something else coming up, that you’re not just finished! So on the Tuesday, I had ‘We Will Rock You’ rehearsals. I like to try and keep something always on the go. Because yeah, it is such a high, and such great craic. And when you’re involved in it, you sometimes don’t feel like it’s going to finish. You have this feeling that it’s going to go on forever [laughs]. It’s a little bit sad when things like that finish. I know with the concert it was only a short turnover, but even at that, when it’s over you feel like you’re missing something [from your life]. You’re with these people all the time. Coming up to a show, you’re with them all day, every day, for two weeks. You get so close to people, and then next thing, you’re not seeing them at all."

Jumping back in time to about a year ago, when Anna won the lead female role – that of Aurora – in Tullamore’s Christmas panto, the legendary tale that is Sleeping Beauty..

“Aaw, it was crazy! I wasn’t expecting it at all. I had auditioned for the panto the previous year, I had been offered a part, but I couldn’t do it because of college and exams. And I was actually heartbroken. I did the audition originally because I like to do them to stay used to doing them, to get used to doing them, because I’m a terribly nervous person. I am. I’m horribly anxious and nervous when it comes to all that kind of stuff. I’ll go in and I’m a ball of nerves, the voice is shaking...! So, I like to do them as often as I can, even if I don’t get them, but to do them just to expose myself to that situation. I’d rather sing in front of four-hundred people than sing in front of three people! So yeah, I did it last year, and that happened with college and exams. So when I went back this year, I was kind of afraid [laughs]. I was like, ‘Oh God, what if they see me as tainted because of last year?!’ [laughs]. But no, they weren’t like that at all. I couldn’t get over it when I got the email saying I had the part!”

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Did Anna recall where she was when she got the big news?

“I was on the Luas, on the way to work, and I was like, ‘This is not happening! What is goin’ on?!’ [Laughs]. The panto was obviously only new in Tullamore as well, but it had been such a success the year before, so there was a high expectation around the town anyway. It was a shock. I genuinely did not expect it at all. So I went and had a conversation with Colin [Hughes] after that, he said he’d love to meet me and have a chat. And when we met, he basically said to me, ‘Who are ya? Where are ya after comin’ out of? I’ve never heard of ya before! Where have you been hiding for the last how many years?!’ And I was so taken aback by the whole conversation. Because I’m not..., I mean, I say this to people and they think I’m being silly, but I genuinely don’t think that I have anything ‘special’, ya know? And that’s not me being, ‘Oh, I need people to tell me this!’ [Laughs]. I sing, that’s it. That’s how I see it. There’s nothing ‘special’ about it. So when Colin sat me down and said, ‘You’re the perfect person for this, we really think that you’re the only person who can do this for us...’, I was like, ‘Aaaaagh! O.k...thank you!’ [Laughs]. I was just so taken aback by it. I have low self-esteem, that’s just being completely transparent and honest. So hearing something like that was just... crazy... crazy for me. I was so emotional.

Obviously, when you’re younger, the whole way up, you’ll get that, ‘Oh, you’re brilliant, fair play to ya, you’re really, really good...’, but like, when you’re hearing it one-to-one from someone like Colin, it’s different. It’s just something that I wasn’t expecting at all."

Did she know then that she was about to star alongside the great George McMahon, he of Mondo fame in RTE’s long-running soap, Fair City?

“No! I had no idea! That was still to come. I didn’t find that out until probably a couple of weeks afterwards. Maybe a week before the actual rehearsals. I can’t even remember who told me. I presume it was Colin. But when I did hear, I was like, ‘Oh God!!!’ [Laughs]. Little, old amateur me going up performing with George, who obviously has so many years of experience. And same thing as I was saying earlier [about Tullamore Musical Society], I learned soooo much from him. He’s been doing it for years, including in the Helix, I think, for years. That experience, of being able to work with people like that, and to learn from them, it’s amazing."

What would be a good example of something Anna learned from George

“I think just being comfortable, ya know. He’s been doing it for so many years that he’s just so comfortable in what he’s doing. But, he makes YOU feel comfortable. It was one of those things where because he was so comfortable, that made you feel comfortable. But it also taught me anyway – not to not take things seriously – but to just believe that things will come to you, they’ll happen. You just have to let them happen. Because I’d be so strung up on getting things perfect. I know panto is different, it’s nearly better if you mess up [laughs]. Because it’s funny, and it’s good for the crowd. He taught me to just go with the flow. Whatever happens is gonna happen!”

Musicals are a combination of singing, dancing, and acting, marking Anna down as a ‘triple-threat’! But is ‘straight’ or regular acting something that she’s ever considered?

“When I was in Midlands Drama School when I was younger, I did a few auditions for television shows and things like that. That wouldn’t have involved any singing or dancing aspects at all. It was a good experience at the time. And it’s something that maybe I could look at down the line, but for the minute, musicals are what I enjoy the most. And that’s not me saying that I don’t enjoy other stuff. I went to see ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ last week, and it was absolutely fantastic. And looking at something like that, it would really make you think that I’d love to do something like that too, to just experience it. But for me, at this moment in time, musicals are what I love. Both being in them and being at them [laughs]. I love the whole combination of everything about them. I love the singing, but to be honest, I also love the dancing. I’m probably not the best at the dancing, but I love that aspect of it. And of course throw the acting into the middle of it then too, and there ya go: have fun with that! [Laughs].

How did Anna actually get started in performing?

“I had a friend in primary school, and she said she was doing it, and of course I was like, ‘I want to do it as well!’ [Laughs]. That was it! It was in the Community Centre in Kilcormac, I started there and never left. I was probably six or seven when I started with Lorraine [Wynne ], and I finished with her the year just before the Leaving Cert. But then I continued to work for her for a few years, so I stayed involved in it. And I performed in so many shows with Lorraine. When you’re younger, you’re in the ‘senior’ show, so you get little parts, or a little solo, or a couple of lines with the older ones. It’s terrifying at the time, but it’s so good for you as a young child. As I got older then, I started getting a few more lead roles. I’ve played so many roles, and I’m honestly so grateful for Lorraine’s Midland Drama School, that I’ve been able to do that. She has years and years and years of experience, and for her to be able to pass that on to me, I’m so grateful for it. Like, I wouldn’t be where I am now without having been there then. She’s a huge part of everything!

When it came to preparing for a role like Anna’s in Sleeping Beauty, and given how long that show was going to run for, how did she make sure that she managed to stay fresh and in good working order for as long as she needed to? It’s a heavy weight on any performer, and one that the general public may not realise at times...

“It’s crazy, it is, it’s absolutely crazy. I was in the panto last year, and also in ‘Cry Baby’ with Athlone Musical Society, so I got to experience two ends of the stick, kind of. Panto is such good craic, but oh my God, it is a lot! [Laughs]. It’s a lot on your body, it’s a lot mentally. People go see it on the night and they see us all having a great time, and we are. But behind all of it you’re tired too, ya know. It’s very draining. And I was working up in Dublin as well. I was only after starting a job in September, so I was still trying as best I could to do as best I could in the job while also giving my 100% to the panto as well. Now, it’s not all doom and gloom! It was honestly one of – if not THE – best thing I’ve done when it comes to musicals and stuff. For the two weeks before the panto starts, you’re in the theatre nearly every evening, running stuff, blocking stuff, trying to get everything right. Then the run itself: I think we did twenty-two shows last year. Over two and a half weeks."

Twenty-two shows, and sadly, I still couldn’t get a ticket for any of them, I point out!

“It’s amazing”, [laughs], “tickets just absolutely fly! There was such a high demand for them. Twenty-two shows in that time, it’s a lot, but you get used to it. Now, I was so tired and so drained after it, but you’d be like that after anything. But being the first time for me to do it as well, I had no idea what to expect. But I had absolutely the BEST time, EVER. My voice and my body felt it, I was a bit fatigued, but I was able to manage it. Because you have the energy of everyone else that’s involved as well, AND of the audience, and that all pushes you on. It’s so enjoyable. We’d have little kids come backstage to us after shows, when we’d still be in our costumes, and they’re looking at you like you’re God! They’re looking at you like they’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, she’s an actual princess! I’ve just met Aurora!’ You see their little faces light up and it makes all the tiredness and all the exhaustion worth it. It absolutely makes it worth it!”

~ This part of Anna's interview is also available to enjoy in the Tullamore Annual 2025, published by Tullamore Lions Club, and out now.