Jenni Nikinmaa’s new play It’s True I Love You All So Much is an interactive, theatrical experience directed by Rena Bryson with completed dramaturgy by Sarah Hoover. Streamed digitally, it encourages the audience to engage with theatre in an intimate and personal way to explore the topics of mental health, family dynamics and relationships. They watch in front of their screens, disconnected from each other and disconnected from performance, performer, and stage, which are the same thing; the screen. The audience is part of the process, the part that is watching how self-harm and ‘madness’ perform themselves.
Jenni Nikinmaa, playwright and spoken word artist, originally hails from Finland and has lived in Ireland for two years. She creates poetic plays that are disturbing yet beautiful. They often engage with curious theatrical devices and adventurous, misbehaving poetry.
‘I wrote it for computer so it was never a play for stage… it’s a play about self-harm and family and I wanted to write a play that tries to figure out the kind of the unexplainable or things you can’t express within self-harm. It’s very post-traumatic and poetic and has no resolutions.’
She wants the piece to highlight acceptance and kindness.
‘Often when people are suicidal or harming themselves they are afraid. You’re not afraid to talk about it but you’re in a position when you start talking about it and other people get scared and then you feel like you have to carry that as well as your own struggle. So, I think that’s a big reason why people feel like it’s difficult to talk about it because the reaction from other people is often fear or anger, which is very understandable, but it also makes it very difficult for the person going through the period of self-harm. ‘
Nikinmaa wrote It’s True I Love You All So Much first as part of her master’s dissertation. She later sent it to Eva’s Echo who read it, loved it and wanted to produce it. It has an unusual set of dramatis personae. The only real character, if you could characterise it as such, is a Blackhole who writes dating bios as a sidebusiness. The rest of the parts are just called Performers. There is Performer A and Performer B and there is a lot of sound acting at the same time.
‘The plot is very post-traumatic – it’s a bit autobiographical, so it’s part of my own experience. Part of it is the experience of others, people I’ve met – you wouldn’t recognise anyone except for me because I’m very open in there. It’s a collection of moments and memories and experiences and I’d say the plot is more like how they relate to each other and how life kind of accumulates. I think self-harm is kind of a blackhole, where you fall into yourself and then you are out of space and the only thing you could do is harm yourself to kind of gain some agency.’
‘I think it’s very, well, for me, it’s a very brave play because it’s autobiographical; it’s about self-harm, it’s about family, it’s about self. I think it’s going to be the bravest thing I ever write. But it’s also beautiful, it’s poetic, it’s sad, it’s full of kindness and, like I’d say, if you have anyone in your life, if you ever had anyone in your life struggling with self-harm or any of that kind of experiences, come see it because – I know I’m biased because it’s my play, but – I think it kind of manages to, not explain, but give some form to the inexplainable experience of wanting to destruct oneself. Even though self-harm is always personal and there is no place that would say everything about it, this is a kind of door opening what it is.
‘If you come to see it, wear your headphones. It’s basically designed to be watched alone from a computer with your headphones on.’
The talented cast and crew consist of Jemma Curran, Sarah Fahy, Peter O’Brien, Siobhán Hickey, Hazel Doolan, and Sabrina Kelleher. Costume design is by Julie Quinn, stage design is by director Rena Bryson, sound design is by Kate McBrearty and the film is by Brian Waldron.
It’s True I Love You All So Much runs from September 30th to October 2nd 2021. The dramaturgy is generously supported by Galway Theatre Festival and the production is backed by Galway City Council. Tickets are availabe at https://evasecho.com/its-true-i-love-you-all-so-much/
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