Rosie Sheehy was in rehearsals for Conor McPherson’s new play, The Brightening Air, when the stage manager burst in with “something to say”. There was a pause and Sheehy expected a calamity to be announced. Her co-stars Brian Gleeson and Chris O’Dowd, who play her siblings, were present but not Derbhle Crotty. “For a second I thought, ‘What’s happened to Derbhle – has she been knocked down?’”
In fact, the Olivier awards nominations had just been announced – with Sheehy shortlisted for best actress (alongside eventual winner Lesley Manville) for her searing performance in Sophie Treadwell’s 1928 expressionist play Machinal, at the Old Vic in London. “It was hard to process,” says Sheehy, her face still bearing some of that surprise.
