Irish actor Denise Gough was nominated today for a 2018 Tony Award for her performance as Harper Pitt in Marianne Elliot's National Theatre revival of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America on Broadway. She first played the role at Lyttleton Theatre, National Theatre, London, and has already won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the part.
Gough, who is from Ennis in Co Clare, graduated from the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London in 2003. She struggled to make it as an actress in London for over 10 years, while babysitting and waitressing, and was about to give up on acting when she got a big break, in a new play People, Places & Things at Britain's National Theatre. She played an actress who is an addict in recovery, and her performance won rave reviews and awards, including the Olivier and the Critics Circle Award.
She also played the role in New York, before performing in the marathon eight-hour play Angels in America; she said about the transfer of the London production to New York: "I am just really glad we're taking the play home. If we hadn't taken it to New York it would have been almost shameful."
The New York Times review said "Her Harper now shimmers with wit and the promise of a buried resourcefulness. Harper's spikiness is on a level with that of Mr. [Andrew] Garfield's Prior, and when they meet "on the threshold of revelation" in shared hallucinations, they are a wonderfully matched set."
The play had 11 Tony nominations, with SpongeBob SquarePants and Mean Girls leading the pack with 12 nominations each.
Her stage performances in Ireland have included the Abbey Theatre production of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars, directed by Wayne Jordan in 2010, and as Julie in the 2009 Gate Theatre production of The Birds, written and directed by Conor McPherson.
In film Gough has played Mathilde de Morny, one of the first women to identify publicly as being a man, in Colette, with Keira Knightley and Dominic West. Last year she started in the small screen in a RTÉ-BBC revenge thriller Paula.
Gough was born in 1980 and is one of 12 children; her younger sister Kelly is also an actress. Her father was an electrician, then a fisheries expert and her mother “was pregnant for nine and a half years”, Gough has joked. She left school at 15 and “followed a boy” to London. Years later she began a Saturday acting class and later got a place at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in Wandsworth (she borrowed the audition fee), graduating in 2003.
Her television debut was in Casualty in 2004 and she has been in series including New Tricks and Stella. Other work includes the play The Painter and TV mini-series Messiah V: The Rapture.
She was nominated in 2012 for Evening Standard Awards for roles in Our New Girl and Desire Under the Elms. Her breakthrough role in People, Places and Things at the National Theatre in 2015 won her great attention and critical praise.
Since the establishment of the Tony awards in 1947 there have been numerous Irish nominations, starting with Siobhán McKenna, nominated in 1956 for Enid Bagnold’s high comic The Chalk Garden and in 1958 for Morton Wishengrad’s Nietzschean drama The Rope Dancers.
In 1970, Tomás Mac Anna’s Borstal Boy won three Tonys, for best play (the autobiographical novel by Brendan Behan, who had died in 1964, was adapted for stage by Frank McMahon), best direction for Mac Anna, and best leading performance by Frank Grimes.
Hugh Leonard’s Dublin comedy Da swept the boards in 1978 winning Tonys for best play, director, actor and actor in a featured role. Cork-born designer Bob Crowley, who was working in England, won a Tony in 1994 for a revival of the musical Carousel , and more recently won again for his design in John Tiffany’s staging of Once in 2012.
In 1992 the Abbey production of Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa, Brid Brennan won best actress, Patrick Mason won best director, and Friel won best play. In 1998 playwright Martin McDonagh and Druid began a run of Tony nominations. Druid’s production of McDonagh’s debut The Beauty Queen of Leenanne dominated, with acting awards for Anna Manahan, Marie Mullen and Tom Murphy, best play for McDonagh and best director for Garry Hynes. Brían F. O’Byrne, who was nominated for Beauty Queen, won a Tony 2004 for Bryony Lavery’s Frozen, beating Aiden Gillen who was nominated for role in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker.
In 2006 the Gate Theatre’s revival of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, had one win - for Ian McDiarmid’s Teddy - and three nominations. Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer was nominated in 2008 and Jim Norton won for his performance. Irish set and costume designer Bob Crowley has won seven Tony awards, including in 2015 for his work on the musical An American in Paris.
The Tony Award – the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre – recognises excellence in live Broadway theatre. The nominations were announced on May 1st by actors Leslie Odom Jr and Katharine McPhee. The awards will be made at the 72nd annual ceremony on June 10th , hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Tony Award nominations
Best Musical
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical
Best Play
The Children
Farinelli and the King
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Junk
Latin History for Morons
Best Revival of a Musical
Carousel
My Fair Lady
Once on This Island
Best Revival of a Play
Angels in America
Lobby Hero
Three Tall Women
The Iceman Cometh
Travesties
Best Book of a Musical
The Band’s Visit, Itamar Moses
Frozen, Jennifer Lee
Mean Girls, Tina Fey
SpongeBob SquarePants, Kyle Jarrow
Best Original Score
Angels in America, Adrian Sutton
The Band’s Visit, Music and Lyrics: David Yazbek
Frozen, Music and Lyrics: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Mean Girls, Music: Jeff Richmond; Lyrics: Nell Benjamin
SpongeBob SquarePants, Various contributors
Best Leading Actor in a Play
Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties
Jamie Parker, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Mark Rylance, Farinelli and the King
Denzel Washington, The Iceman Cometh
Best Leading Actress in a Play
Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women
Condola Rashad, Saint Joan
Lauren Ridloff, Children of a Lesser God
Amy Schumer, Meteor Shower
Best Leading Actor in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants
Tony Shalhoub, The Band’s Visit
Best Leading Actress in a Musical
Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady
Hailey Kilgore, Once on This Island
LaChanze, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Katrina Lenk, The Band’s Visit
Taylor Louderman, Mean Girls
Jessie Mueller, Carousel
Best Featured Actor in a Play
Anthony Boyle, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Michael Cera, Lobby Hero
Brian Tyree Henry, Lobby Hero
Nathan Lane, Angels in America
David Morse, The Iceman Cometh
Best Featured Actress in a Play
Susan Brown, Angels in America
Noma Dumezweni, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Deborah Findlay, The Children
Denise Gough, Angels in America
Laurie Metcalf, Three Tall Women
Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Norbert Leo Butz, My Fair Lady
Alexander Gemignani, Carousel
Grey Henson, Mean Girls
Gavin Lee, SpongeBob SquarePants
Ari’el Stachel, The Band’s Visit
Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Ariana DeBose, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
Renée Fleming, Carousel
Lindsay Mendez, Carousel
Ashley Park, Mean Girls
Diana Rigg, My Fair Lady
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, Three Tall Women
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Santo Loquasto, The Iceman Cometh
Christine Jones, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Ian MacNeil and Edward Pierce, Angels in America
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Dane Laffrey, Once on this Island
Scott Pask, The Band’s Visit
Scott Pask, Finn Ross and Adam Young, Mean Girls
Michael Yeargan, My Fair Lady
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants
Best Costume Design of a Play
Jonathan Fensom, Farinelli and the King
Nicky Gillibrand, Angels in America
Katrina Lindsay, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Ann Roth, Three Tall Women
Ann Roth, The Iceman Cometh
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Mean Girls
Clint Ramos, Once on This Island
Ann Roth, Carousel
David Zinn, SpongeBob SquarePants
Catherine Zuber, My Fair Lady
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Neil Austin, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Paule Constable, Angels in America
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, The Iceman Cometh
Paul Russell, Farinelli and the King
Ben Stanton, Junk
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, SpongeBob SquarePants
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Once on This Island
Donald Holder, My Fair Lady
Brian MacDevitt, Carousel
Tyler Micoleau, The Band’s Visit
Best Direction of a Play
Marianne Elliott, Angels in America
Joe Mantello, Three Tall Women
Patrick Marber, Travesties
John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
George C. Wolfe, The Iceman Cometh
Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Once on This Island
David Cromer, The Band’s Visit
Tina Landau, SpongeBob SquarePants
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Bartlett Sher, My Fair Lady
Best Choreography
Christopher Gattelli, My Fair Lady
Christopher Gattelli, SpongeBob SquarePants
Steven Hoggett, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Casey Nicholaw, Mean Girls
Justin Peck, Carousel
Best Orchestrations
John Clancy, Mean Girls
Tom Kitt, SpongeBob SquarePants
AnnMarie Milazzo and Michael Starobin, Once on This Island
Jamshied Sharifi, The Band’s Visit
Jonathan Tunick, Carousel
Sound Design in a Play
Adam Cork, Travesties
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Angels in America
Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Tom Gibbons, 1984
Dan Moses Schreier, The Iceman Cometh
Sound Design in a Musical
Kai Harada, The Band’s Visit
Peter Hylenski, Once on This Island
Scott Lehrer, Carousel
Brian Ronan, Mean Girls
Walter Trarbach and Mike Dobson, SpongeBob SquarePants
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater
Chita Rivera
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Special Tony Award
John Leguizamo
Bruce Springsteen
