Nicole Kidman's young children are counting down the days until her final bow in London play Photograph 51 so they can have their mother back.

The Hollywood star has been treading the boards in the West End for the first time in 17 years as British scientist Rosalind Franklin in a production of Photograph 51, which began previews in September (15).

Nicole's performance has won her rave reviews and a best actress nomination at the U.K.'s upcoming Evening Standard Theater Awards, but she admits her two youngest fans, daughters Sunday and Faith, cannot wait for her stage stint to wrap on Saturday (21Nov15).

The actress, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her country star husband Keith Urban, admits her family life is mainly to blame for her long break in between theater roles, because she hates being an absent mom.

"It is a very, very hard thing to do a play and not be there for that period of time, bed time," she tells ABC News, "so this has been a big ask in terms of my four year old and my seven year old, and you know, they're like, 'We can't wait for it to end!'"

She also shares two adopted children, Connor, 20, and 22-year-old Isabella, with her ex-husband Tom Cruise.

Nicole will find out if she is a winner at the Evening Standard Theater Awards on Sunday (22Nov15), when the prizes will be handed out at London's Old Vic theater in a ceremony co-hosted by stars including Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen.

She faces competition from Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Nell Gwynn), Denise Gough (People, Places And Things) and Lia Williams (Oresteia) for the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress title, named after Liam Neeson's late wife.

Other nominees include James McAvoy (The Ruling Class) and Ralph Fiennes (Man And Superman) in the Best Actor category, while Imelda Staunton will compete for Best Musical Performance for her role in Gypsy, and former Bond girl Gemma Arterton is up for Best Newcomer in a Musical for Made In Dagenham.