As Aunt Maggie Faraway, Irish actor Fionnula Flanagan has to do a lot with a little. Often in a catatonic state, Aunt Maggie rests like a silent watchdog over The Ferryman鈥檚 Carney clan; but when she comes to life, Flanagan holds the audiences rapt.
鈥淪he's a time-traveler,鈥� Flanagan said of her character on opening night. 鈥淲hen I first read it I thought, 鈥楾his women is a sibyl.鈥� She knows what鈥檚 going to happen, she intuits what鈥檚 going to happen, and it鈥檚 devastating to her.鈥�
The play marks the first time Flanagan has returned to Broadway since her Tony-nominated turn in 1974鈥檚 Ulysses in Nighttown, and she relishes her return to New York鈥攁nd now her second Tony nomination. 鈥淏roadway's always been exciting and terrifying at the same time,鈥� she said. The same could be said of The Ferryman.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very important play that everyone should see because it鈥檚 about family and secrets and denial and life and loyalty and love and treachery,鈥� she says in the video above, seven months into the Broadway limited engagement run.
And Flanagan witnesses it all. Though Aunt Maggie is often asleep, Flanagan is always awake; when Maggie is 鈥淔araway,鈥� Flanagan is soaking it in. 鈥淚'm working all the time,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 about.鈥�
Videography and video editing by Roberto Araujo.
