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A play about a former IRA activist, set during The Troubles, is up for best play at this year's Tony Awards.

The Ferryman, by James Bond co-writer and director team Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes is nominated nine times in all.

The production, starring Paddy Considine and Laura Donnelly - who have both picked up nominations, originally opened at the Royal Court in London.

Butterworth said he felt "extremely honoured and grateful".

"Plays are hard," he told the press, "and plays this big with this many people are harder still, but when those people are as talented, inspiring and just plain ready as the Ferrymen and Ferrywomen and Ferrychildren and Ferrybabies have been, it somehow seems effortless.

"When [theatre producer] Sonia [Friedman] and I did Jerusalem on Broadway the other end of this decade, I told myself on the plane home that I'd never experience anything like that again. I'm wrong a lot."

Butterworth and Mendes worked together on the last two 007 franchise films, Skyfall and Spectre - where Butterworth helped polish the scripts written by the other credited writers.

The Ferryman transferred to London's West End after having become the Royal Court theatre's fastest-selling production ever.

It stars Dead Man's Shoes actor Paddy Considine and Laura Donnelly and will go up against three other plays; Choir Boy, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, What the Constitution Means to Me; and Ink in the best play category.

James Graham's Ink was directed by Rupert Goold and stars Doctor Foster actor Bertie Carvel as media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Elsewhere, Hadestown; an adaptation of the 2010 folk opera concept album of the same name has the most nominations with 14.

The Motown musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life of the Temptations, is up for 12 awards while a new musical based on the 1988 horror-comedy Beetlejuice (above) picked up eight nominations despite opening just last week.

The 73rd annual Tony Award takes place at the Radio City Music Hall in New York on 9 June, hosted by British presenter James Corden.

Check out the full list of nominations

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