Nyree Yergainharsian

Nyree is a performance maker. The driving force behind her artistic practice is the pursuit of truth inside the space of a theatre. She is working in development and is exploring the genre of documentary theatre. Nyree, with some support from Mermaid Arts Centre has been awarded an Arts Council Artists Bursary. Ultimately what this does is it buys her time and gives her the chance to explore the elements, codes and ethics of documentary practices. It will help her to consider what she might be able to bring to the cannon of this style of work.

Nyree is going to spend time researching the history of documentary theatre, both in Ireland and abroad. She will be mentored by Brokentalkers Theatre Company. She wants to investigate how best to represent real life events in a theatre space and then she’ll apply her learnings in a practical setting in the development of a new piece, working title ‘Lobsters; an investigation in finding love, then and now’.

Nyree plans to start by interviewing 30 people in their thirties to find out how they feel about relationships, finding love and what they wish was different. She also wants to interview 30 people over the age of 65 to know what finding love once was, what it has become, and where things went so wrong (and so right). More than simply collating funny stories that the dating world of 2019 certainly offers, Nyree aims to reveal the unrevealed, the taboo, the real fears and hopes of her generation. She’s intrigued by the subverted subjects within the topic - for example those who choose to stay alone, Incels; a collective of people who feel rejected by society and romance - nd the Irish public health crisis that is contemporary loneliness. She will look closely at the cyclical nature of finding a partner, the strategies people have to do this, and why people often choose to stay single.