Actress Laura Donnelly said she was “overwhelmed” by her best leading actress Tony nomination for The Ferryman, as she flew to New York to celebrate with playwright Jez Butterworth.
The play, which transferred to Broadway in October, was yesterday nominated for nine awards including best play, best lead actor for Paddy Considine and best director for Sam Mendes.
Donnelly, 36, told the Standard she was “overwhelmed and thrilled” when she awoke to the news. Her partner Butterworth based the play, set in Northern Ireland in 1981, on Donnelly’s family’s experiences.
“It just makes it all the more special to have come this far and now to have received this kind of recognition,” she said. “It generated from a story so close to me. It feels like a once in a lifetime position to be in.” The actress has been preparing for a role in California, where her mother has been staying with her. Donnelly said: “The play is based on her family story, so it was brilliant to be able to share that news with her first.”
Butterworth said the celebrations “could get messy”. The 50-year-old, who is working on his next play, said he and Donnelly first discussed The Ferryman while driving in upstate New York in 2015, adding: “We arrived at this cabin. I cooked and we drank all the wine we’d brought, talking about what the play might be. When we woke up, there was still something in the room with us we couldn’t shake.”
Yesterday marked a good day for British theatre on Broadway. The Almeida’s production of Ink got six Tony nominations, while the transfer of the National Theatre’s Network got five. Musical Hadestown, a National Theatre co-production, scored the most nominations with 14.
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