New York woman sent to live with nuns in Glasnevin during childhood set to return to perform one-woman show

Runaway Princess, a Hopeful tale of Heroin, Hooking and Happiness is written and performed by Mary Goggin, who turns 72 on Tuesday, August 12.

The Irish-American believes that she is a “miracle”, who is now passionate about life.

She claims that she found her voice at 70, and that she is not dying, she is growing.

Mary wrote the show six months after the death of her mother. It was performed Off Broadway back in 2018 and won “Best Storyteller” and “Critics Choice.”

The show is based on Mary’s traumatic Irish Catholic upbringing, alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution.

It highlights a multitude of characters that she encountered on her journey from utter darkness to absolute joy. The show is told with dark humour, unflinching honesty, and unsentimental pathos.

“When I started shooting heroin my parents kept sending me to Ireland to boarding schools, which didn’t work. But I got a good education,” Mary told the Irish Independent.

“I lived in a convent boarding…