HystERia Téatar is the theatre company that never stands still. Murder Mysteries, Work In-Progress productions and Musical Theatre Raves, are a few of their many experimental and interactive works. Always with something new in the pipeline, this team are dreamers full of absolute notions and they have so much more to give. Stay tuned!
Ran by a team of four creatives; Artistic Director Emily Aherne, Creative Director Jess Harkin, General Manager MJ Devlin, and Head of Finance Cassidy Farrelly. HystERia Téatar possesses an ever-expanding repertoire of artistic achievements and an eagerness to experiment with new concepts and ideas.
Starting out in late 2021 alongside their first show ‘Not Like Other Girls!’at Galway Theatre Festival, HystERia Téatar was quite the happy accident. MJ explains; “we never really set out to form a company. We needed a group name to apply under, and we went through a lot of puns and different ideas before we ended up settling on HystERia. Then we did the show and it was like hey what’s happening.. We’ve made a company.” Cassidy jokingly adds; “I was just looking for a hobby.. now I’m in charge of finance”.
above: photo from their Night of Mystery Series, "Night of the Dark Lens"
The inspiration behind each of their theatrical events comes largely from their interactions as friends and the comfort they have in opening up to each other with new ideas and brainstorming different stories. Jess says; “When we meet up we are always spitballing ideas and I think that’s where all our cool ideas come from.” Thanks to this mutual encouragement and shared passion for what they do, they’ve managed to ensure that HystERia remains a fun and inclusive collective where new ideas and interests are always welcomed.
To give us an insight into the chaotically creative world of HystERia, Jess explains how they decided on different projects in the past, saying; “we wrote out what we are interested in and when we look at that we picked out what was repeating itself. We realised that it was interactive, immersive stuff, and through the conversations we kept having with one another we just kept seeing things that don’t represent us or are things that have always been done and we wanted to be able to create something that is new or has that immersive interactive element.”
All of HystERia’s events, shows and even the company itself originated from the idea of ‘what if’. “We have all these ideas that we are testing, so we are very much at a work in progress year.” says Emily; “We are trying all these events out and seeing what picks up. The Murder Mysteries and Musical Theatre Raves, we’ve noticed that people really enjoy them because it creates a space for people to come and exist in something that isn’t necessarily there and I think that drives most of our ideas in what we want to create in our events and our plays.“
above: photo from their Night of Mystery Series, "Who Killed the Groove?"
As a result of their willingness to try new things, HystERia has amassed members and followers from across the world. HystERia itself is made up of a group of people from: America, Greece, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Ireland, who set out to create an all-inclusive space and built a community dedicated to bringing people together to enjoy theatrical arts in all varieties. Looking back on what they’ve achieved and the fun they’ve had along the way, the team filled us in on a few of their highlights mentioning, the moment they made Cassidy fly in Not Like Other Girls!, and the response of their audiences at their plays and Murder Mysteries. Cassidy says; “You do feel like you are learning as you go which sounds terrifying but is actually very gratifying.“
Emily reminisces;“I think one of the biggest highlights for me was the first Murder Mystery because it was so experimental, but then seeing the sheer childlike joy in the audience and on all of our faces because we were able to run around pretending to be people from the 1920’s trying to solve a murder in a pub while getting drunk - incredible!” She continued; “One thing that’s beautiful and something that I love is that at the first one there were two groups of people coming together to solve a mystery and they’ve come to the last few as well and rejoined and solved the mystery together again.”
For Jess, a standout moment came with seeing her work being performed in front of her; “At the first read through of ‘I did What!?’ and listening to my words come to life. It was such a lovely realisation because I didn’t think I’d have that chance to put something on again after coming out of college unless I had somehow gotten rich or really lucky and was discovered by some big theatre company so being in that rehearsal room and having a cast who loved it.” Speaking for the group, Emily tells us;“The whole thing feels like a weird fever dream. It's really nice experiences again and again so it’s all just one really big highlight and all of us are not really sure how we got here.”
If you’ve never joined them before and are interested in doing so, MJ beautifully sums up the HystERia experience saying; “we largely do experimental things that we want everyone to come to. Nobody is unwelcome and if you’re nervous there’s a really great sense of community in our events particularly in the Murder Mysteries and anything interactive that we do. Where people come along shy at first and by the end of it they’ve been brought into it and they’re part of it and they are always welcome."
To stay updated on HystERia Téatar’s newest projects, sign up for their mailing list at https://www.hysteriateatar.com/. Or, contact them at hysteriatheatreproductions@gmail.com or 083 095 5676.
above: photo from their Night of Mystery Series, "Night of the Rogue Eye".
Feature photo from their work-in-progress production of "I Did WHAT!?", All photos courtesy of HystERia Téatar.
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