A Finnish playwright living on Inis Mór has used a flock of sheep as a metaphor for connection with others in her new production.

Jenni Nikinmaa who is from Espoo, a city near Finnish capital, Helsinki, wrote 'Sheep!' a monologue that explores belonging and flocks and how we are cut out of the connection by destruction.

"It gathers around nuances of otherness, wondering if sheep asked to have their children eaten by making such cute and delicious lambs," she said.

"While it touches on many topics, essentially it is a story of a human who has been assaulted and can´t connect with other beings anymore."

Nikinmaa work is also critical of mass production.

"I am working also on a play about lobster boats and lobstering, which is based on the stories from west Cork relating to the traditional lobster boats they used there and it will be very much on the lines of how slower and less is better for all of us," she said.

The Finnish playwright, poet, performer, and theatre maker doesn't come from a farming background, but has enjoyed horse riding and worked at a stables from the age of 12.

"My granddad used to teach at a farming institution," she added.

"I wanted to live on the island for a long time but it just never seemed like a sensible choice, as my career was in the theatre until the pandemic happened," Nikinmaa said.

Nikinaa said that her choice to live in a rural locale was as good a choice as any, and that she has managed to make it work alongside her theatre work, though there can be a lot of travel involved.

"I was on Clare Island in 2019 and I just kept listening to the different voices of different sheep and it was so enchanting, as we do often think of them as the same, like sheep have no individuals," she said.

"And there is something I really value in that, in being a part of a flock as an individual as opposed to being an individual and placing the flock second."

"For me, we are part of a biodiverse herd of existence that includes everything from plants to people.

"In the play, sheep become a metaphor for connection with others, so they are not so much the subject as the flock is, but there's quite a bit about them included in it, anyway," she said.

Nikinmaa said she hasn't spoken with sheep farmers to research the play.

"I would love to, and would love to have a chance to spend some time at a farm. I wouldn't be completely useless, I think, having worked with horses so if anyone would have a playwright over for a little while at a sheep farm somewhere, I'd be delighted to go and help for a bit, to learn more," she said.

"I've visited some sheep attractions and farms that are open to public as attractions but that's not the same.

" 'Sheep!' will be part of Newport Fringe Festival in Wales on March 23 as a work-in-progress, and I am hoping the full play gets its premiere later this year," she concluded.