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Irish Independent

Kerry native Riona looking forward to long awaited Siamsa Tíre homecoming after 25 years away

There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then for Riona, now a mother and wife, who went on to become an actor on London's famous West End before she then turned her creative and comedic talents towards the world of social media where she is now a bona fide star with over 367 thousand followers on Facebook and Instagram. Speaking to The Kerryman this week, Riona said that it was that that time in her youth that she spent with the members of Tralee Musical Society that has allowed her to have the career that she has now as it gave her all the skills and confidence to put herself out there for the world to see. "Those are all really treasured memories to look back on,' she said. "Especially as a teenager, I really thrived in Tralee Musical Society. I found my people — people I could truly connect with and feel safe around. What's brilliant about a group like Tralee Musical Society is that you're not just mixing with other teenagers. I was interacting with people of all ages — younger and older — and that gave me so much confidence. It showed me I could get up in front of them, sing, and perform,' she continued. The last time Riona stood on stage at Siamsa, she recalls, was performing with Tralee Musical Society in either a production of 42nd Street or one the group's variety shows. "I have great memories of so much great shows with them over the years like Hot Mikado and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The Joseph show stands out especially because it was back in 1997 and because it did so well, we got to do a second run of it and we were absolutely buzzing about this,' she laughed. "I'm just so excited to go back and see everybody that I won't have seen in so long,' she said. Riona's show on June 5 is called This is All Too Much and it will see her team up with her friend and partner in comedy Olga Thompson. Between them, they've racked up over 1 million followers, 1 billion views, a Writers' Guild Award, and more viral videos than hot dinners. The duo are well known and acclaimed for their comedy songs that tackle the unspoken truth about motherhood, midlife, menopause and the many indignities of adulting – with harmonies, heart, and a healthy dose of hormonal chaos. ADVERTISEMENT Now firmly established in the Over 40s Club, Riona said that she and Olga are tackling their perimenopausal panic head-on with laugh-out-loud songs, searing honesty, and a shared desire to feel visible in a world that thinks mums should just smile quietly and fold socks. It's a case of so far, so excellent for the show, Riona told The Kerryman. "The response to the show on tour has been amazing so far,' she said, an amazing feat considering that she had never previously ventured into the area of stand up comedy. "I was so scared and terrified and you're thinking 'oh god why am I doing this to myself when I could just be at home?' but thankfully, it went incredibly well,' she said, recalling the first performance of this new show. "It [the show] is full of lots of musical comedy and that's interspersed with stand-up and I talk a lot as well about things like menopause and perimenopause and that stuff that hits you like a ton of bricks once you hit 40. It's so amazing the amount of people that can relate to that and it's great that we're now getting to a place in society where these things can be talked about openly and they are not these things that are hidden behind closed doors,' she continued. "There's a lot of ups and downs in the show, There's a lot of laughing but there's a few tears as well,' she said. One incident in particular that particularly touched Riona was one that occurred after they had finished a recent performance of the show and they had stayed behind afterwards to meet some of those in the audience. "I was chatting to one woman after a show and I just gave her a hug and she actually messaged me later and she told me that she lives on her own and that she hadn't had a chance to share any of her experiences with any other people and that the hug that I gave her was the first time she had had any physical contact with anybody for over two years. That hug, she said, was just amazing for her. "It was a lovely moment and a reminder that you never know that what you're doing can have such an effect on people. Yes, you're doing comedy but it still means something to people, it was really nice,' she continued. One of the biggest issues raised in the show by Riona is that of body positivity and body acceptance. It's a subject that Riona herself said said that she has dedicated quite a lot of time to working some comedic results. Getting in a bikini, wearing the clothes that you like, not stressing so much about covering up, that was all part of the process for me in recent years. In the show, I made this sort of musical comedy about that whole process and how I got from A to B to C,' she said. "I tell a funny story in the show about my addiction to Cadbury's Creme Eggs and how, for the longest time, they were not a safe food because if I had them in the house, by god they're gone! One time I ended up buying 12 of them and sure the box of 12 were gone by the end of the day and before I knew it, it was two months later, I had a 10-a-day Cadbury's Creme Egg addiction and I was two stone heavier!" she laughed.