Bríd Brennan

Bríd Brennan (born 1955) is an Irish actress^[1] who is known for her film, TV and theatre work. She originated the role of Agnes in the Brian Friel play Dancing at Lughnasa, for which she won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.^[2] She is also a three-time Olivier Award nominee; for Rutherford and Son (1995), The Little Foxes (2002) and The Ferryman (2018).

Bríd Brennan
Brennan at diff 2025
Born	1955 (age 69–70) Northern Ireland, Ireland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1980–present

As well as her roles in the films Maeve (1981), Anne Devlin (1984) and Mike Leigh's Four Days in July (1985), Brennan reprised her role of Agnes in the 1998 film version of Dancing at Lughnasa, starring alongside Meryl Streep.^[3] Her television credits include Cracker: Brotherly Love (1995), South Riding (2011) and The Escape Artist (2013).

Career

Early work

Beginning her acting career in Dublin, Brennan appeared in many of the major theatres including the Gate Theatre, the Abbey Theatre and the Gaiety Theatre, as well as touring community centres with Moving Theatre.^[4]

Theatre work

Brennan created the role of Agnes Mundy in Brian Friel's play Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). She played the role in the original Dublin, West End and Broadway (1992–1992) productions, winning the 1992 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.^[2]

Brennan portrayed the character Janet in the National Theatre's 1994 production of Rutherford and Son and was subsequently nominated for an Olivier Award the following year.^[5][6] She then went on to play the lead role of Lady Macbeth in the Royal Shakespeare Company's national tour of Macbeth in 1996–1997.

In 1999, Brennan played Maisie Madigan in Pearson's production of Juno and the Paycock at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, alongside Michael Gambon whom she had previously appeared with in the 1998 film adaptation of Dancing at Lughnasa.^[3][7] In 2002, Brennan was again nominated for an Olivier award for her performance in the Donmar Warehouse's 2001 production of The Little Foxes. In 2006, she starred as Sister Aloysius in a production of Doubt at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.^[8]

In March 2014 it was announced that she had been cast in the role of Kate Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons, playing at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in May/June 2014, performing alongside Tom Mannion and Charles Aitken, the latter of whom she had previously performed with in The Old Vic's 2013 production of Sweet Bird of Youth.^[9]

In April 2017, she appeared in The Ferryman at the Royal Court Theatre, ahead of a transfer to the Gielgud Theatre in the West End.^[10]

Radio, television and film work

Brennan acted in the much acclaimed Billy trilogy of plays for the BBC Play for Today series (1982–1984) with fellow Belfast natives Sir Kenneth Branagh and James Ellis. In 1984, Brennan played Collette, one of the main characters in Mike Leigh's television film Four Days in July, based on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

On 31 October 1992, Brennan starred in BBC1's Screen One Hallowe'en drama Ghostwatch alongside Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles. This ghost story, written by Stephen Volk, was produced in the style of a live television broadcast from an allegedly haunted house in North London. Brennan appeared as the mother of the house, Pamela Early, who, alongside her two young daughters, was experiencing paranormal events in their house. The drama caused uproar in the UK, with many feeling it was a deliberate hoax, designed to let viewers think it was a real live show and not a drama. However, it did make Brennan become well known, as 11 million people watched it.^[11][12]

Brennan featured as a guest star in the British television series Cracker in 1995 as a prostitute-hating killer in the episode "Brotherly Love". Coincidentally, she co-starred in this particular episode with fellow Irish actor Lorcan Cranitch, with whom she would later co-star in Dancing at Lughnasa.^[13]

She reprised her performance of Agnes on screen in Noel Pearson's film adaptation of Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), starring Meryl Streep, for which Brennan won an Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actress.^[14]

In 2010, Brennan appeared in the television shows Doctor Who and The Escape Artist, both alongside David Tennant.^[15][16]

Brennan gave an award-winning performance in 2012's Shadow Dancer, winning an IFTA for her role as Ma.^[17] According to the director James Marsh, the fact that she had grown up in West Belfast during the Troubles was significant as by casting Irish actors "it felt that they knew this world better than I did and I felt they could help me and guide me".^[1]

For RTÉ Radio 1, Brennan played the role of Lucia Joyce in Thomas Kilroy's In the Garden of the Asylum in 2009.^[18]

In 2021 she appeared in the Irish-language crime thriller Doineann, along with Peter Coonan.

Theatre work

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Winter's Tale	Dorcas	Abbey Theatre[19]
1990–1992	Dancing at Lughnasa	Agnes	Abbey Theatre[20][21][22] National Theatre[23] Plymouth Theatre[24]
1994	Rutherford and Son	Janet	National Theatre[5]
1996–1997	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth	Royal Shakespeare Company[25]
1999	Juno and the Paycock	Maisie Madigan	Gaiety Theatre
2000–2001	La Lupa	Pina	Royal Shakespeare Company[26]
2001	The Little Foxes	Birdie Hubbard	Donmar Warehouse[27]
2003	Absolutely! (Perhaps)	Cini	Wyndham's Theatre[28]
2004	The Dark	Janet	Donmar Warehouse[29]
2004	Bone	Helen	Royal Court Theatre[30]
2004–2005	By the Bog of Cats	Catwoman	Wyndham's Theatre[31]
2005	The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union	Vivienne/Sylvia	Donmar Warehouse[31]
2005	Pillars of the Community	Marta Bernick	National Theatre[32]
2006	Woman and Scarecrow	Scarecrow	Royal Court Theatre[33]
2006	Doubt	Sister Aloysius Beauvier	Abbey Theatre[8]
2007	Intemperance	Millie	Everyman Theatre Liverpool[34]
2008	Brendan at the Chelsea	Beatrice	Riverside Studios[35]
2008	Bliss	Wal-Mart Employee	Royal Court Theatre[36]
2008	Dallas Sweetman	Mrs Reddan	Canterbury Cathedral[37]
2010	Philadelphia, Here I Come!	Madge	Gaiety Theatre, Dublin[38]
2011	The Veil	Mrs Goulding	National Theatre[39]
2012	Henry V	Chorus/Queen Isabel	Shakespeare's Globe[40]
2013	Desolate Heaven	Freda/Laoise/Bridie	Theatre503[41]
2013	Sweet Bird of Youth	Aunt Nonnie	The Old Vic[42]
2013	A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations)	Jocasta/Jocelyn	Derry Playhouse[43]
2014	All My Sons	Kate Keller	Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park[9]
2016	All That Fall	Mrs. Rooney	Wilton's Music Hall[44]
2017	The Ferryman	Aunt Maggie Far Away	Royal Court Theatre & Gielgud Theatre transfer[10]
2019	Blood Wedding	La Vecina	The Young Vic[45]

Filmography and television work

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Excalibur	Lady in Waiting
1981	Maeve	Roisin
1982	The Ballroom of Romance	Patty Byrne
1982–1984	The Billy Plays Trilogy on Play for Today	Lorna Martin	Television series 3 episodes opposite Kenneth Branagh.
1984	Anne Devlin	Anne Devlin
1985	Four Days in July	Collette
1985	Ursula and Glenys	Ursula
1987	Hidden City	The Wife  – in B&W film
1987	Lorna	Lorna
1989	Screen One	Lillian's Nurse	Television series 1 episode
1990	Who Bombed Birmingham?	Sister of IRA man
1991	4 Play	Susan Turnbull	Television series 1 episode
1992	Ghostwatch	Pamela Early
1992	Tell Tale Hearts	Sally McCann	Television mini-series
1993	Performance	Thea Elvsted	Television series
1994	Guinevere	Morgan L'Fei
1994	Words Upon the Window Pane	Stella
1995	Cracker	Maggie Harvey	Television series 3 episodes
1996	Trojan Eddie	Betty
1996	Saint-Ex	Simone de Saint-Exupéry
1998	Dancing at Lughnasa	Agnes Mundy
1999	Felicia's Journey	Mrs Lysaght
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Mad Woman
2002	Sunday	Mrs Young
2002	Any Time Now	Emily Moggin	Television series 4 episodes
2004	The Clinic	Sheila McNamara	Television series 1 episode
2008	Trial & Retribution	Gemma Webster	Television series 1 episode
2009	Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne	Theresa Byrne
2009	Father & Son	Maternity Clinic Doctor	Television series 1 episode
2010	Doctor Who	The Visionary	Television series[15] 1 episode
2010	Little Crackers	Sister Mary Bernadette	Television series 1 episode
2011	South Riding	Miss Sigglesthwaite	Television miniseries 2 episodes
2012	Shadow Dancer	Ma
2012	Upstairs Downstairs	Miss Poulson	Television Series 1 episode
2012	Casualty	Jane Flynn	Television series 1 episode
2013	The Escape Artist	Mary	Television series[16] 3 episodes
2015	Brooklyn	"Nettles" Kelly
2016	Florence Foster Jenkins	Kitty
2016–2017	Peaky Blinders	Audrey Changretta	Television series 2 episodes
2021	Doineann	Labhaoise	Irish-language
2021–2024	Hope Street	Concepta O’Hare	Television series; main role
2022	My Sailor, My Love	Annie	Movie
2023	Room Taken	Victoria	Short film[46]

Awards

• 1992 – Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Dancing at Lughnasa^[2]
• 1992 – Drama Desk Award for Ensemble Performance for Dancing at Lughnasa^[24]
• 1992 – Theatre World Special Award for Ensemble Performance for Dancing at Lughnasa^[24]
• 1995 – Nominated for Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Rutherford and Son^[6]
• 1999 – Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actress for Dancing at Lughnasa^[14]
• 2002 – Nominated for Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Little Foxes^[47]
• 2012 – Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best Performance in a British Feature Film for Shadow Dancer (shared with Andrea Riseborough)^[48]
• 2013 – Irish Film & Television Award for Best Supporting Actress Film for Shadow Dancer^[17]
• 2018 – Nominated for Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Ferryman
• 2024 – Best Actress Award at the Indie Shorts Awards Cannes for Room Taken an Irish short film directed by Tj O'Grady Peyton.^[49]