It was not until she was midway through rehearsals that Eithne Treanor realised the play she was going to perform closely mirrored her own life.

Coming from a family of five sisters and a brother, similar to the Irish play Dancing at Lughnasa, her personality almost matched that of the character she is playing.

“The family dynamics at play is the same as in many Irish families and within any family,” she says. “I realised I have become Kate Mundy and I have always been Kate Mundy.”

The character Ms Treanor is referring to is the conservative eldest sister in the family.

A former television reporter, Ms Treanor works as an independent consultant and conference ­moderator for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), as well as running a small media training business in Dubai. Now she is venturing into the world of theatre.

In her new role she will be stepping into the shoes of Meryl Streep for the character of Kate Mundy in Brian Friel’s Tony and Olivier Awards winning play from 1990.

Originally from western Ireland, this is the 57-year-old’s first community play and she sees potential in her new pastime for her media training business.

“I can see the possibility for stressed executives,” Ms Treanor says.

She believes the discipline that comes with group theatre and training in voice modulation and stage presence could come in handy for executives who go on air, face panel discussions or deliver speeches at conferences.

“Because there is a danger of forgetting which conference I am at as all are beginning to sound the same,” Ms Treanor adds.

The play will premiere on January 15 and run for four days at Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre in Mall of the Emirates, with hopes that it will attract members from Dubai’s 6,000-strong Irish community.

Set in Ireland in 1936, it revolves around the five Mundy sisters and their nephew in a small village in Northern Ireland, as the world outside moves irrevocably towards the Second World War and a protracted Spanish Civil War. Into their world returns their missionary brother, a changed man after his time in Africa. And all this gets going around early August, the time of the Celtic harvesting festival of Lughnasa.

Initially the actors met twice a week during the play reading, which introduces the actors to the characters of the play, and where they learn to sow emotions into the characters. Later, the group met three times a week, for up to four hours in the evening. On Fridays, the sessions stretched from noon until 4pm.

But community theatre is a big stress reliever, Ms Treanor found.

“I had to let go of a few things and it was my excuse not to go to the gym, but I really enjoyed it,” she says.

In her day job, the former journalist trains executives in oil and gas, infrastructure and transport sectors to speak at major events.

In a year, she handles between 30 and 50 different organisations, including some in the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman, through her two-person company ETreanor, which she set up in Dubai in 2005.

While she does not have any professional training in acting, the former TV reporter is no stranger to live action.

As a correspondent for the BBC, Sky News, CNBC Europe and now a special correspondent for CNBC Arabia, she has enough experience for facing the public.

She also moderates conferences and panel discussions, including those for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, event organisers DMG and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry besides Opec. And she says she is never at a loss for words; not even when she had a surprise guest in Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at the Africa Global Business Forum in Dubai in May.

When he came up on stage and shook her hand after the panel discussion to thank her for her work, she says she managed to mumble: “anytime, your highness, anytime”.

Now she says she will put her new acting skills to good use, coaching other executives as more international conferences head to Dubai.

“It’s about getting into the lines, living and breathing what [we] are reading,” she adds.

ssahoo@thenational.ae