In 2022 we ask our visiting artists to tell us a little bit about themselves. We hope that these short questionnaires will reveal something that you didn't know or expect about them.
Anne Gildea is a founder member of comedy ‘super-group’ The Nualas and is a well-known comedienne and writer. She will be on stage on the 15th with her fabulous, informative, laugh-out-loud, show "How to Get the Menopause... and enjoy it".
But really, who is Anne Gildea? Her answers to our quickfire questionnaire might surprise you!
Q- Tell us about yourself
A- I’m mid-fifties, I’ve been a comedienne since my early 20s, started out doing comedy in London in the late ‘80s. I’m a former ‘Nuala’, a reformed jogger, not very out doorsy, love a dip in the sea, tried skiing once and spent the week in a jacuzzi, love being out in rugged scenery, in the safety of a car. My favourite things are the smell of grease paint and the roar of the crowd, hate when people say ‘There’s much better stage make-up available than grease paint these days’.
Q- What will you play in Birr
A- On the 15th of September at 8PM I’ll be slapping on the grease paint and presenting my
brand new show How To get The Menopause and Enjoy It. It’s a show of two halves, the first covering menopause, medicine, and the body and the second broadening out those themes to includes sex, cabbage and beautifying your nether regions.
It’s laughter packed, full of the wisdom of women, but fellas who’ve been
dragged along have LOVED and I mean LOVED it… if the roar of the crowd is anything to go on. The feedback has been amazing since I launched last Valentine’s Day in Dublin –
I LOVE, absolutely LOVE connecting with women… and any fellas who’ve been dragged along.
In a nut shell: Funny, informative, guaranteed Good Time.
Q- Who is your biggest influence?
A- Delia Smith / Catherine Deneuve. Need I say more. Oh yeah and my mum has been a big influence, whether I like it or not.
Q- Describe yourself as a 10-year-old.
A- I was a wanna be ballet dancer, the dream of ballet greatness thwarted by living in an area of rural Sligo more known for mixed arable small farming and saving the turf rather than petite jetes and the local Baryshnikov.
Q- What’s your best on stage memory?
A- Playing the Royal Albert Hall to a rapturous audience when The Nualas were touring the UK. Such a humbling experience, thinking of all the history of amazing concerts at the Albert Hall and being a small part of it.
Q- What’s your worst on stage memory?
A- I got hypnotised at a show at the Edinburgh Festival one year, I ended up running around the stage barking like a dog . The most embarrassing bit, it was a production of Hamlet.
Q- Where are you at your happiest?
A- On stage
Q- What’s your favourite colour?
A- My grease paint.
Q- What’s the last book you enjoyed?
A- I just finished the last book of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and The Light. Sublime: Brings its historical milieu so viscerally to life, makes the cynically expedient ideological upheavals of then feel super relevant to now, and so evocative I got a twinge at every mention of Henry VIII’s gout.
Q- What’s your favourite song of all time?
A- Robert Wyatt’s version of Shipbuilding by Elvis Costello. And All Flowers in Time by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser. Speaking of which, Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley, both his original version, and Liz Fraser’s with This Mortal Coil….and, and, and. Sure you could go on and on so I’ll end here so.
See you on the 15th.
Anne will star in "How to Get the menopause... And Enjoy it! on Thursday the 15th of September from 8pm.
Tickets available online here or through our box office : 057 9122911
The Women in Comedy Series is supported by the Night-Time Economy Support Scheme #NTESS#NTE22
