The cast of Martin McDonagh's play The Beauty Queen of Leenane was celebrating in New York last night as the Irish production swept up six Tony award nominations.
This makes Beauty Queen, which started off as a small Druid Theatre production, one of the hits of the season on Broadway, with the most nominations of any new play. McDonagh received a nomination for best play and Garry Hynes was nominated for best director in the Tony Awards, the Oscars of the theatre world.
The ensemble cast all received nominations, including leading actress Marie Mullen and Anna Manahan for best performance in the featured actress category. The two actors in the play, Tom Murphy and Brian F. O'Byrne, both received Tony nominations for the best performance by a featured actor. McDonagh's tragicomic tale of a fierce struggle between a possessive mother and her unmarried daughter has gained overwhelmingly positive reviews since it opened at the Walter Kerr theatre on Broadway last month. "We were hoping to get a few nominations but this is huge", exclaimed Garry Hynes in New York last night.
"It is exciting that this is exactly the same production that opened in the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, on February 1st, 1996 and was seen in Skibbereen and Inis Meain."
When Hynes was first approached by US agents keen to put on a production with an American cast, the director refused. "There has not been one ounce of compromise," she said triumphantly. "When I was a student in New York in the early 1970s, I discovered theatre could be made for low budget. So winning a Tony nomination here is important to me."
Anna Manahan, who plays the brooding mother in Beauty Queen, was delighted with her first Tony nomination since she appeared in Brian Friel's Lovers on Broadway 30 years ago. "It is the second time round for me, so it would be nice to win this time!" she said last night.
She added: "It is so wonderful that the original cast, who have given so much of their life to the play, have been rewarded".
Brian F. O'Byrne, who plays an unlucky suitor, recalled how he had been accosted in a restaurant by a theatre-goer, angry at the actions of his stage character. "The phone has been hopping off its hook all day with very excited people at the end of the line," said O'Byrne. "But the enormity of all this hasn't hit me yet."
Playwright Martin McDonagh was in New York yesterday but keeping a low profile. He reportedly returned to bed for a nap after hearing of the nominations on Monday. Mr James Hennessey, deputy Irish consul general in New York, said: "The six nominations just reinforce the fantastic success and popularity of Irish culture in New York."
The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which is sold out at the Walter Kerr theatre for May, picked up two off-Broadway awards last night for an earlier production. McDonagh's work must now compete against three other plays for the Tony Awards to be announced on June 7th.