NEW YORK — Seated by the window of her Hell’s Kitchen studio sublet, Kerry Condon is in a quandary over what to wear to the premiere of her latest play, “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” at the Atlantic Theater Company. It is heartening to watch the actress flip through a magazine and lust after an airy Calvin Klein Collection that she can ill afford before pulling out her backup — a red velvet Imitation of Christ minidress she snagged at the Barneys New York Warehouse Sale.
It is also a somewhat jarring sight for anyone who has seen her harrowing performance in the Martin McDonagh play. Condon plays Mairead, a rifle-toting, 16-year-old Irish Republican who specializes in shooting out people‘s eyes in the award-winning play about a cat-obsessed Northern Ireland terrorist. “Lieutenant” is certainly not for the faint of heart — though classified as a comedy, it includes a vivid torture scene, Quentin Tarantino levels of bloodshed and enough “fecks” (that’s “f–ks”) to put “Deadwood” to shame. But Condon insists the gore doesn’t rattle her.
“Plays can be so boring nowadays,” muses the Irish actress, who first played Mairead in the “Lieutenant” London run four years ago. “I don’t think it’s that violent…the whole point of the thing is that it’s just ridiculous, getting nobody nowhere, killing all these people.”
With her tiny, delicate frame, androgynously pretty features and outspoken conversation, Condon, 24, is particularly well-suited to Mairead. And it’s not just the crewcut they have in common.
“It’s really easy for me to do it. It’s my own accent — I’m from the country in Ireland and I’m really into animal rights, so I can totally understand how she gets about cats,” says Condon, who was born in Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland and made her acting debut at 16 in the film “Angela’s Ashes.” “I think if there was an animal drowning and a human, I would err on the side of getting the animal, to be honest. Just because they’re so nice and forgiving, and love people no matter what they do.”
That said, the London native has found New Yorkers quite a friendly bunch, despite being initially perplexed by their theater etiquette.
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“It’s odd, the audience; everyone here stands up. I was thinking, ‘Are we just that great?'” she laughs. “It’s really reserved in England and Ireland. People here are really enthusiastic and vocal. Sometimes people say things when you’re onstage and you’re like, ‘I’m right here — trying to concentrate. Don’t talk, please.'”
After “Lieutenant” closes in April, Condon will jet off to Italy for six to eight months to shoot the second season of the HBO series “Rome.” She again plays a part that has earned her controversy points, this time for the graphic sex scenes, including one with her character’s younger brother. It’s yet another instance of Condon’s fearlessness.
“The first time, I was a bit like, ‘Oh God.’ It was like jumping into cold water,” she says of the season-one nude shoots. “But after that, I’d done so many of them, I could have queued for my lunch naked, I was so sick of it.”