Three broken ribs and two bouts of pneumonia later, Mary Walsh says she’s ready to debut her one-woman play Dancing with Rage.

'Alcohol puts a very gloomy spin on things'—Mary Walsh

The comedian and veteran cast member of CBC-TV’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes has been through a lot since last year, when a case of pneumonia landed her in a St. John’s hospital for several weeks. She was later struck by a cyclist in Toronto, breaking her ribs, and six weeks after that she got pneumonia again.

Walsh, 60, says she’s still in some pain but is able to make the costume changes needed to portray several of her most famous roles — including princess warrior Marg Delahunty — for Dancing with Rage.

The show touches on personal issues including anger, happiness and alcohol.

“Rage is one of the things I used to protect myself,” Walsh told CBC's Alice Hopton. “I found it very useful for a very long time and I thought it got me what I wanted. Then suddenly it turned around and it was just driving everything I wanted away from me and everyone I wanted away from me.”

Giving up drinking was a “big move” towards happiness, she added.

“Alcohol puts a very gloomy spin on things. Things are dark and you keep digging this big dark hole that you can’t see any end to,” she said. “So just by putting it to one side for a minute — a light comes on.”

People often think happiness is “an outside job,” she added. “But as it turns out it’s an inside job. As Abe Lincoln said, people are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Mirvish Productions is presenting Dancing with Rage at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto.The show played dates last month in Alberta and B.C. and will appear next in Halifax.

With files from Canadian Press