In Conversation With Laura Donnelly Star of HBO's 'The Nevers'
Laura was virtually photographed and interviewed in London by Alison Engstrom; Hair by Sven Bayerbach; Makeup by Justine Jenkins
Let’s start at the beginning! What type of child were growing up and were there any inklings that you would have a profession in performing?
It’s definitely not in my DNA, I didn’t have any other performers in the family. It was not a world that I was in any way familiar with, professionally speaking. I started out doing amateur things, not acting actually, but performing. I was a dancer; I used to be part of this school created by Patrica MulHolland, who created this particular type of dance called Irish Ballet, which was basically a precursor to Riverdance. I got to play a lot of kiddy parts when I was eight, nine, and ten. She was probably the only creative professional person who I witnessed in my childhood—she was in her 70s and she was a complete trailblazer as a woman in Belfast at that time. She said to my mom one day, don’t tell her this, but she is destined for the stage. Of course, my mom told me that straight away (laughs). It’s like the Witches of Macbeth situation. I don’t know whether I did it because she said I would or whether I would have done it anyway. Once I heard that I said, okay, because she said so (laughs). From that moment I just assumed I was going to do it and thank goodness, I didn’t occur to me as something that didn’t look very likely in 1980s Belfast. It went from there and I didn’t think about it too much after that.
Well, you obviously had the talent!
I think a lot of the time it’s based on the love for it and that’s where talent starts, it’s just the passion for it. I have often thought, is there something in the world that I missed because I never tried it? Maybe I would have been the greatest golfer in the world (laughs). Obviously not, because you have to begin with a passion before you can really grow any talent from that. I did not have a passion for picking up a golf club so therefore I will not be the next Tiger Woods! I think all she spotted was a real joy of me being on stage.
It’s so crucial to have that support when you are younger, especially to have someone foster the arts in you like that—that’s powerful.
I didn’t know if I was going to be any good as an actor, even though you might like performing on stage as a kid. I don’t think there was anything there to say I was going to be good. It might have been much easier to pursue something I knew I would be good at. When I was applying to drama schools I also applied to some regular universities with normal courses. I got into study law and history at Edinburgh (note Laura ended up attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama). I think had it not been for that tiny little sliver of encouragement that sparked something in me, I doubt I would have pursued it. I wouldn't have seen it as realistic.
How would you describe your journey to where you are now?
I would say it has been one of incremental steps up in terms of the quality of work that I have gotten to do and the profile of the work that I have been allowed to do. I began by me doing whatever job I could get—whatever job someone said yes to—and continuing like that through most of my 20s. It wasn’t a case of picking jobs, it was what I was allowed to do. That’s such a tough part of being an actor, you have to wait for someone’s permission to create—you can’t create in your bedroom (laughs). It was a case of slogging on through and taking whatever job I could get and that did result in a fair level of frustration as I was getting into my late 20s and hitting my 30s. I have been told, and can I say is bollocks, for a woman you have to make it by the time you are 30 or that’s it. So I had this ticking time bomb in my head. Women experience that so much where it’s like, 30, 30 this is where I am supposed to be—it’s just nuts. It was after that when things started to go a lot better; it was down to me relaxing and not having that time bomb in my head and thinking whatever will be will be.
As a result of being open to experience and learning why was I in this profession—it’s not about being famous or successful. I actually have a real passion for the art and the craft of acting. I found myself doing some jobs that were purely for the sake of art; they were more fulfilling than anything I could have ever imagined. It gave to me and my life in ways I didn't think were possible. It was an extended epiphany of, well, I just love acting; it isn’t about the rest of it. If I am lucky enough to get work, I will spend my time trying to be better and more involved in the craft of it—that released me in a whole way that I couldn’t have predicted. It gave me a sense of freedom and confidence. It changed everything.
It’s so interesting that we put a time limit on ourselves like that. I wouldn’t go back to my 20s if you paid me!
I would not go back to that time for all the money in the world. It’s a time of intense insecurity—it’s somewhere halfway through adolescence and early adulthood. You don’t know what way is up and then at 30, the pressure came off and I started enjoying being me.
Was there a moment that things shifted for you?
It was around that time when I worked on a play called The River in London and later on, we took it to Broadway. It was both artistically and personally a turning point for me because I met the man, who is now the father of my children, he had written the play. When I walked into that audition room, I was meeting him for the first time and meeting director, Ian Rickson, who had a huge impact on me. It felt like in that room, there was this artistic meeting of minds. It was about the script but also about music and passions. We only had about 20 minutes but it was really intense. I just knew that I wanted to work with these men. I got to rehearse that play with them for three weeks where I was getting to know Jez, who I ended up falling in love with. It gave me a lot of confidence because these two men, who I respected so much and had heard all around the London theater scene, were showing a level of confidence in me that I didn’t have in myself just yet. It taught me about my instincts, how I wanted to work, and the art I wanted to create in that world. Watching them, I felt gave me permission to take myself seriously and not apologize for that. I stopped playing around with the idea that acting was a silly profession, but I am serious about this and that’s okay.
Films and TV material can have such a profound effect on so many people and it can connect also people.
It’s about human connection when you cannot be around other humans. Theater, which people haven’t been able to see, I think it’s going to come back stronger than it did in the first place because people now realize there is such value in that especially when it is taken away from them. In New York, it’s particularly special, it’s a whole other thing when you have a play on Broadway, it’s like the entire city knows about it.
You’ve gone back and forth between theater, film and television. I know theater is more physically demanding but which do you find more challenging from an actual performing standpoint?
I find them challenging in different ways—I am not sure one is more than the other. What I do know is when I finish one, I want to go straight back to the other because it fulfills in different ways and exercises different muscles. I find, in loads of ways, theater is more challenging because you can get away with less, you have to be alive to the moment, listening and paying attention or the whole thing drops and it drops live there in front of you (laughs). At the same time, I very much believe that it’s so free on stage, because I don’t think anything can go wrong on stage. Whatever happens an audience is just pleased to be there witnessing what is happening in real life. That’s the genuine magic of the audience and stage relationship. Of course at the same time, film you get a lot of takes and you can experiment—there is no getting it wrong there either. Theater is definitely more terrifying; opening night is much more terrifying than anything I have ever experienced on TV, so there is that (laughs). Every first show, if an angel would come down to me and say, I will get you out of this right now, I would wholeheartedly take it (laughs).
I cannot imagine that feeling! Now to talk about your new lead role in HBO’s The Nevers—congratulations. Can you talk a bit more on how the part of Amalia True came to you?
It came because the producers of the show had come to see The Ferryman—I didn’t know they had been there and two years later, I had been on someone’s mind. It’s amazing in and of itself because it feels like a certain level of faith is being put into you. I wanted to meet with them despite the fact that on paper, it didn’t seem like something I would be very interested in doing. I had done a lot of genre TV, it’s not the thing I am madly interested in. I wouldn’t want to be a part of something that was a straight-forward super hero show.
When I went to meet them, I sat down for well over an hour and I was told the entire story, all of the secrets and what it’s all actually about. I realized it was nothing like I thought it was with women with special abilities. It’s a completely human story and the abilities they have are a way of examining the other in society—even when they have superficial ‘powers’, they are not powers if society will not allow it. It’s the thing that makes you unique, makes you strong in the world and the thing that’s special about you can be your downfall so fast if the world has decided you don’t belong. It was that and I got to explore it mostly with women which drew me to it. Being a part of a cast, of mostly women, and particularly getting to play opposite another female lead—two females never get to play a leads in a show this size—and they get to play as friends and people who support one another. I found that so refreshing and appealing and I couldn’t say no to that, then you add in the stunts, I would sign anywhere (laughs).
Your character has an ability to see into the future. A skill so many of us wish we could have. How do you get into a character like her?
You say you would like it but it’s a highly unusable skill for her to have. She gets glimpses and then she doesn't know what to do about them but then she is in them. She does slowly begin to learn how to use them, sometimes. They aren’t convenient, that’s what most of them find themselves in—they aren’t powerful. She learns to cope with it than to use it. In terms of getting into her mindset, so much was to do with the backstory.
There was research to do with the time period but so much of her backstory was what I had to research. It was then a decision about the layers of her, what does she admit to herself; what does she admit to other people; what is she trying to put out there and what she is actually putting out there and how she copes with that. She has to decide how to cope with a situation that she doesn’t feel like she belongs in but has to keep moving forward. It’s a complicated mindset to get into, complexity is fun for an actor.
The series takes place in Victorian England. I’m absolutely blown away by the scenery and effects. How was it stepping go to that world?
Our set designer is so incredible. We relied on her the more it went on. We were always filming in and around London and we filmed about 40% in the studio. We would be on location, at like Lancaster Gate, which is an incredible stately home. Walking into a set like that's incredible and it’s helpful. We got shutdown halfway through filming episode five, so we shot the rest during covid and it changed then way we were able to film.
Are there any themes of The Nevers that you would like people to take away from it? I think people who are dubbed outcasts are free thinkers and can put an indelible mark on society.
I would love the idea if people would give a moments thought and step into someone else’s shoes for a bit, especially anyone who is less privileged than them. I think to be able to have a look at the ways in which people become restricted or marginalized in society by absolutely nothing they have done or anything they have brought on themselves. Rather for simply who they are despite being brilliant, talented, intelligent and remarkable individuals and they are not seen as what they present as a group. I think anyone who can take a moment and see what that might be like for someone less privileged than yourself then that is our job done. The purpose of telling stories anyways is to give someone a chance to live in someone else’s shoes for a day.
I read how you talked about having children while working on your very successful play in New York and London The Ferryman—Something that so many women can relate with. What have you come to learn about balancing that and what have you learned that could help others too?
I think I am learning, I wouldn’t say, have learned (laughs) to give myself a break and realize you can be doing everything but you don’t have to be doing it brilliantly all of the time and everyone will survive. You can give that little bit of time to your career and you might not be the best mother or partner but it will come around and you can balance it out again. You don’t have to feel like you are nailing it all of the time.
Very well said and Before we finish, what else can we look forward to?
We are doing the next six episodes and that will finish off the season as a whole and should be expected to come out next year. After that my aim will be very much to get back on the stage.