From Rathkenny to the Edinburgh Fringe... Actor Francesca Garry caught the acting bug from local productions and school shows

A RATHKENNY actor is preparing to bring new work to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, crediting a well-known local drama group with sparking her passion for the stage.

Francesca Garry, (28) said her love of performing began at a young age through involvement in the Rathkenny Revels.

“I couldn’t get enough of it once I started,” Francesca said. “That was the first time I was on a stage in front of people, and I just loved it.”

She first discovered a love for performance at the age of seven through speech and drama classes with Patricia Molloy, before becoming involved in local productions and school shows.

“There was always something going on locally, whether it was in a hall or a community centre, and I just wanted to be part of it,” she said.

Although she went on to study Social Science at University College Dublin, the pull of the arts remained strong.

“After college, I just thought, ‘I don’t want to do anything else,’” she said. “So I auditioned and got into drama school, and that was kind of the moment I realised this is what I’m meant to be doing.”

Francesca later trained at The Gaiety School of Acting and signed with the Lisa Richards Agency.

“It’s hard when you come out of drama school,” she said. “You’re so eager to get to work, and then you realise it may not come straight away.”

Following her training, she spent two years living in New York, where she immersed herself in the city’s theatre scene and connected with other Irish creatives.

“There’s a huge Irish network over there,” she said. “Once you meet people, they really want to help you and get you involved in things.”

During that time, she co-wrote a play, Mo Smaointe, with fellow actor Jodie Sweeney for an immigrant theatre festival in Brooklyn, taking on writing, directing and performing roles.

The production received positive feedback, with industry attention including a mention on theatre website Broadway World.

She also performed in a rehearsed reading of a new Irish musical at the American Irish Historical Society in New York and recorded original music at a studio in the city.

“I think I’ve finally found my groove of realising it’s all about trying to keep yourself busy with the things that inspire you,” she said.

Now back in Ireland, the Rathkenny actor is preparing to debut a new play, MNÁ, which she has co-written with Jodie Sweeney, at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The show will run from 189th to 22nd August at the Greenside venue, a well-known space within the festival, which attracts thousands of performers and audiences from around the world each year.

Francesca said the piece draws on her own experiences of living abroad and returning home.

“It’s about people who move away and come back and aren’t the same person they were before,” she said.

“You grow when you’re away, especially somewhere like New York, and when you come home you’re trying to figure out what’s next.”

“It’s funny, but it’s also emotional,” she said. “It’s about asking yourself, are we going to keep going for this?”

Reflecting on her journey so far, Francesca said her early experiences in Rathkenny were central to everything that followed.

“That was where it all started for me,” she said. “Without that, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to keep going.”