Sonya Kelly Explained
Sonya Kelly is an Irish playwright and screenwriter.[1]
Kelly was born in Dublin. Some of her family had a theatre background: her uncle Frank Kelly was a well-known actor, and an aunt who taught speech and drama sent her plays by George Bernard Shaw as a teenager. She studied drama and classics at Trinity College Dublin.[2]
After graduation she got a few acting roles in Dublin's Gate Theatre before spending some time as a stand-up comedian. She then progressed to what she has described as "a medium somewhere between theatre and comedy", doing self-performing autobiographical pieces. "The Wheelchair on my Face" was the first of these followed by "How to Keep an Alien". Her first play for other actors was "Furniture".[3]
Productions of Kelly's plays "The Wheelchair on My Face" and "The Last Return" have won Scotsman Fringe First awards.[4]
She lives in Dublin with her Australian wife Kate. They met while they were both working on a play at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin.[5] Their daughter Juno was born in 2021.[6]
Kelly was a 2024 recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.[7]
Playography
Notes and References
- Web site: Sonya Kelly . www.theagency.ie . 24 August 2022.
- Web site: Sonya Kelly . 24 August 2022 . Curtis Brown.
- Web site: Hourican . Emily . 2022-10-08 . Playwright Sonya Kelly: "Despair is your friend. If you're not worried, how do you know what you're aiming for?" . 10 October 2022 . Irish Independent.
- News: Falvey . Deirdre . Druid's The Last Return by Sonya Kelly wins award at Edinburgh Fringe . 28 August 2022 . Irish Times . 12 August 2022.
- Web site: Dwyer . Ciara . 7 February 2021 . "When I came out it didn't dawn on me that I couldn't get married"- Sonya Kelly talks about coming out, marrying an "alien" and how lockdown sparked her new. play . 24 August 2022 . Irish Independent.
- Web site: Winston . Fran . 2021-06-07 . Theatre star Sonya Kelly and wife Kate Ferris welcome 'miracle' baby girl and share first pictures . 1 September 2022 . Irish Mirror.
- Web site: 2 April 2024 . Sonya Kelly .
- News: Gardner . Lyn . Edinburgh festival review: How to Keep an Alien – a comedy of love and visas . 9 August 2015 . The Observer . 28 August 2022.
- News: Meany . Helen . Once Upon a Bridge review – three worlds collide in near-death drama . 28 August 2022 . The Guardian . 12 February 2021.
- News: Meany . Helen . The Last Return review – what queuing etiquette reveals about western imperialism . 28 August 2022 . The Guardian . 7 July 2022.
