FUNNY-woman Anne Gildea is preparing to bring her hit stand-up show ‘How to get the Menopause and enjoy it’ to a number of venues in Donegal.
Best known for her time spent touring with ‘The Nualas’, Anne has had quite the career.
From performing around the world to writing a book which was later turned into a film, Anne’s work is a light hearted version of her own personal battles.
“I have written a few books, one of them about my journey through breast cancer and it was called ‘I’ve got cancer, what’s your excuse’,” she laughed.
But when touring with ‘The Nualas’ came to an end, Anne saw the opportunity to go solo.
“I wanted to write solo shows about midlife and it was my partner, who works with me on the show, who came up with the title.
“He just wrote that title on my white board.
“‘How to get the Menopause and enjoy it’ and he said that’s your title.
“Initially, I was like, menopause? Who wants to hear about that?,” she joked.
However, after some research, Anne became fascinated by the scientific details associated with the menopause.
Marrying the two ideas, the show was created.
“We started it on Valentine’s Day in 2022 in a small theatre in Dublin and it was just one of those things that took off straight away.
“It completely sold out.
“Women just loved it and they brought their husbands and they loved it,” Anne said.
Anne’s show is hilariously relatable and shockingly educational for some.
“I say things in the show like I am getting the most appalling vertigo and then I have women in the audience saying out loud YES!
“Because they are getting terrible vertigo and they don’t realise that that is totally a symptom of your hormones fluctuating during menopause.
“When something is really serious, it can be equally and oppositely funny,” she said.
With the show entirely in the form of stand-up comedy, Anne has described it as being a big conversation with the audience.
“I just knew comedy wise what I wanted from it was laugh, laugh, laugh.
“The reaction has been unbelievable, the thing that really surprises me is that I have women coming back two and three times.
“The show gets standing ovations, sometimes you see these standing ovations where people feel obligated but the show gets these instant, we can’t wait to leap out of our chair, ovations.
“There is an amazing energy around it, if I do say so myself,” she quipped.
Anne’s show ‘How to get the Menopause and enjoy it’ will be in An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny on February 2 and in The Balor Theatre, Ballybofey on February 17.
If you are interested in purchasing tickets for this show, you can do so via www.annegildea.com