Sheep! returns to The Mick Lally Theatre in Galway amidst international tour! Don’t miss it…

Jenni Nikinmaa, a Finnish playwright & performer, formerly based in Inishmore and currently living in Galway city, has announced a new show date at the Mick Lally theatre for her monologue Sheep! After a successful premiere during the Galway Theatre Festival, Sheep! will tour internationally: Sheep! is booked to Thessaloniki Fringe Festival in October and London premiere is set for end of November at Greenwich Theatre. In-between these, the show can be seen at The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane, on Tuesday 10th of November.

Sheep! is a monologue about sheep, flocks and belonging, told by a sheep who doesn’t know how to belong after she was sexually assaulted. To find her way back into the herd, she weaves an off-beat comedic tale of sheep who are born, loved, eaten – asking for it, having such cute lambs – and go to space in search of the lost connection.

Sheep! is partly autobiographical, which is no surprise with over 50% of women having experiences of sexual violence both in Ireland and in Finland during their lifetime, but the playwright-performer’s focus is on vicarious resilience rather than on what happened or who did it. The play fights for belonging in the flock even after one has “felt like a prey that had no say in the matter” within interaction with another.

Sheep! was developed as part of the Druid Fuel residency in 2023. Written and performed by Jenni Nikinmaa, directed by Sarah O’Toole and sound design is by Jack Cawley.

Jenni Nikinmaa is a playwright/performer from Finland, banished to the Western outskirts of Europe as she doesn’t like sauna. Now she lives in Ireland and writes weird, wonderful, off-beat comedic plays about grim autobiographical experiences with unblinking kindness and touch of otherworldly magic. Jenni is an In Situ platform artist 2026, recipient of multiple Awards from The Arts Council of Ireland and was shortlisted for Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize in 2020.

Photo by Ciarán MacChoncarraige