Rose Byrne is on a streak.
After winning the Golden Globe for her performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You in January and receiving an Oscar nomination in February, Byrne was nominated for a Tony Award on Tuesday for her role as Jane in a rare revival of Noël Coward’s Fallen Angels.
It’s a rare feat in the industry, and one that Byrne says she’s grateful for amid the typical rollercoaster of an actor’s career.
“To have these creative opportunities, like, If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, and something like Fallen Angels, it’s all I can ask for. It’s been exceptional. It’s been so truly, truly extraordinary,” Byrne said. “And of course, recognition is always an amazing thing too. But to have these creative opportunities is what I feel like all artists are striving for.”
This is the first Tony nomination for the Bridesmaids star, who was recognized for her role as Jane, an upper-crust British woman in Coward’s 1925 comedy who becomes increasingly “unhinged” thanks to a steady stream of alcohol and lively back-and-forths with her friend Julia (Kelli O’Hara, who was also Tony-nominated). In one moment where the two are discussing adultery, but must quickly change the subject when the maid enters, Bryne’s Jane quips, “I often wonder if the ocean would be deeper if there were no sponges,” among other asides.
While awaiting the presence of a man they both formerly loved, the two married women descend into further madness, and a great deal of drunken physical comedy, as Byrne falls out of chairs, continually misplaces her shoes and grows increasingly more disheveled.
Byrne spoke with The Hollywood Reporter after the Tony nomination about playing drunk, what brought her back to Broadway after appearing in the 2014 revival of You Can’t Take It With You and the whirlwind of this year.
How are you feeling about the Tony nomination?
This was truly a magical surprise. This play has not been done for, I want to say over 50 years on Broadway. This is like a true revival. This is not a play that’s done. It’s a comedic two-hander for two women. And we also have our extraordinary supporting cast of Tracy Chima and Mark Consuelos and Chris Fitzgerald and Aasif Mandvi. It is truly, this magical group. And, I’m a Broadway rookie. This is only my second show on Broadway, so I’m just absolutely thrilled. And I’m so excited to share it with Kelli and her nomination. We are two halves of the coin, her and I.
What made you want to return to Broadway in this role?
We did a benefit reading for the Roundabout [Theatre Company] two years ago. Director Scott Ellis is my friend. I was familiar with Noël Coward but I didn’t know, with this play being so old, how we would find it fresh, and how we would bring it alive again, even for this reading. And we did this reading, and something happened. We looked at each other and went, “The potential for this, and how it landed with the audience, and what came alive once we were up there on that stage. It’s molecular.” Something took flight, something took off, and we went, “Oh we have to try to do this.” And it took two years. And the timing was crazy, because it was right after If I Had Legs and that whole experience, which was also so unexpected and wild and extraordinary.
It’s just magical. And it’s been such a rigorous experience being back on stage. I have long-wanted to do a true comedic production of something on stage. And so this unbeknownst to me came my way, and it was an absolute gift.
I’ve heard a lot of different theories on how to play drunk. What was your way in?
I know it’s fascinating. I’m sort of obsessed with it too, about how people do it. I must say the writing is the key. Noël Coward’s writing for drunk is exceptional. The clues are all in his writing, the structure of the sentence, the tracking of it, the fast decline into being inebriated. And that truly was, for me, the first way in. And I think also being very specific in that Julia’s drunk is very different from Jane’s drunk. And Jane is really unhinged, and is referred to throughout the play as being unhinged. So there couldn’t be more clues to get there. And then trying to find the physicality of that, and how far to push it, and how far to rein it in, and that balance, that sort of tightrope. And every night, it is so fun and funny and joyful and and also, truly, like re-engaging the rigorous muscle of theater. It’s like discovering my inner athlete.
How does it feel to play “unhinged?”
It’s a balance. It’s a tightrope of trying to stick the landing of all these moments. Also because it’s so informed, as always, by the audience, because it’s a true comedic piece, it’s also riding the wave of the laugh and understanding when to come in next. And so it’s always an unknown thing when you get into the seat every night, it’s like strapping myself in a little bit and going, “OK what’s going to happen tonight?” Which is why you do it, you know. You go, can we pull this off again?
You’re receiving this Tony nomination after a whirlwind year of awards for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. How has this year felt?
I am filled with gratitude, absolute gratitude and know in this business to really be grateful for these moments, because it’s just a roller coaster, being an actor. So to have these creative opportunities, like, If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You and something like Fallen Angels, it’s all I can ask for. It’s been exceptional. It’s been so truly, truly extraordinary. And of course, recognition is always an amazing thing too. But to have these creative opportunities is what I feel like all artists are striving for. To have reached a point where I get these opportunities is not ever, ever lost on me. So I feel thrilled and grateful.
This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
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