WINNIE McGoogan is more vacant than an empty auditorium at three in the morning.

A stand-out character in the smash hit BBC sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys, the worn-out housewife and Agnes Brown's best friend is never seen without her slippers, scrunched tights and wholly unflattering headscarf.

But the actress who plays her is a world away from the comedy character.

Meeting Eilish O'Carroll, who's in Glasgow filming the Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas show, is in itself proof the lady has a remarkable talent.

Well-dressed, well-read and well-spoken, she's Winnie's polar opposite.

However, Eilish, who's the sister of Mrs Brown star Brendan O'Carroll, has another talent, which has only recently been unleashed.

The Dublin-born actress is also a writer, and has created her one-woman show Live, Love, Laugh, based on her own life story.

Eilish will perform the monologue at the Edinburgh Festival in late July and August.

It's an incredibly revealing story that's warm, sad and very, very funny.

Eilish takes the audience on a remarkable journey, from growing up in North Dublin housing estate Finglas as one of ten kids to becoming a stage actress, to two failed marriages - to coming to terms with realising she is gay.

"I suppose I've been acting all my life," she says with a wry smile.

"It began when we were kids. With so many of us you had to stand out. We were all competing for attention."

From her mammy of course. But Eilish could never afford to even dream of life in acting.

"Secondary school education in Ireland at this time had to be paid for, so I left school at 12 and went to a commercial college.

"And times were so difficult it was assumed the girls in the family would all move abroad to find work, a husband, and hopefully a better life."

Eilish and her four sisters all emigrated ( the boys in the family, including Brendan, stayed at home, to work in the catering industry) but the hoped-for Canadian dream didn't materialise.

"I didn't want to go to Canada when I was 17. And when I got there I was homesick and miserable.

"So I returned to Ireland, married a Northern Irishman and then moved again, this time to live in Surrey, aged 20."

Meantime, her marriage became abusive. If it weren't for the fact she now had two sons, it would never had lasted eight years.

But Eilish found escape, and fun when she joined the local dramatic society.

"I loved it," she recalls.

"And I was involved in a musical group called the Penticons, for a few years."

She adds, smiling; "There were only four of us after one left, but we didn't bother to change the name."

In time, Eilish met another man, a nice man, and she loved him and he was kind to her two boys. But she wasn't in love with him.

By the age of 40, Eilish had begun to question very point of life. She felt lost. She needed more. But what?

In her stage play she explains how she came to realise she was gay.

"Now it may sound like I went looking for a pair of shoes lost in the recesses of my wardrobe, and lo and behold I found not only the shoes but a lesbian wearing them.

"No, it wasn't like that. You see, I met this woman, as you do, straight, and like me also searching for the meaning of life.

"We met at one of those "workshops" where you find yourself through spirituality. We didn't find the meaning of life but we found each other."

However, the relationship crumbled and Eilish ran back to Ireland 'to hide.'

At the age of 45 she joined the circus - or rather the troupe of actors her younger brother Brendan had formed, and toured with his second comedy play Grandad's Sure Lily's Still Alive as a wardrobe mistress.

When Brendan came up with his first Mrs Brown play in 1999, Eilish joined the cast playing Winnie.

Her life changed. In 2002 she met her partner Marian, who works in production with the Mrs Brown stage show.

She said: "She's a lovely lady and my sons and ex-husband adore her."

But how much has Eilish O'Carroll's life changed given the incredible success of Mrs Brown's Boys?

She said: "How do you measure life changing? If it's by the celebrity status then my life hasn't changed.

"I don't get recognised which is a great thing, unless I appear on a talk show in Ireland."

Eilish loves the adventure of touring with Mrs Brown team, of working with her little brother.

She said: "The genius of Brendan is he can take audiences on a roller coaster. And they love every minute of it.

"But it's surreal to see myself on screen. I find it hard to watch myself. "

She won't find it hard to appear as herself on stage.

"I feel it's what I've always wanted to do," she says of her show.

"And this time around, the audience will get me."

* Live, Love, Laugh, the Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, July 31 - August 24.