MY name's Aine. Not missy. Noting to me left in Ireland. What girlie. And I have no-one belonging to me left in Ireland. What was I supposed to do? Stay there and starve?" Aine is the courageous 10-year-old heroine of Paula Meehan's new play, The Voyage, which will be performed by Team theatre company in the Ark today and tomorrow. The play is aimed children aged 10-12.
Aine leaves Ireland as a stowaway on a ship bound for New York after losing her family during the ravages of the Famine. She is discovered hiding in a flour-sack by the ship's rat-catcher, Ratser, declaring: "Mister, it's a girl I am, not a rat."
"The play is a metaphor for journeys of all kinds," says the author, Paula Meehan. "Most children will have experienced a loss of some kind by the time they reach 10 or 11." But the play is not only about bereavement: "Aine's grandfather has told her a lot of stories which she draws on during the voyage to console herself and entertain the people she meets," Meehan explains.
Slowly, the child learns to trust certain people who offer her help and support: "Initially she is very careful. When she steps on board, everyone she meets is a potential enemy. She tells tall tales to get herself out of situations. But with people she can trust, she opens up and tells the truth," Meehan says.
Even in the midst of grief, Aine is playful: "She is a child, looking forward to the future and the possibility of adventure," Meehan says.
The play is being performed in schools around the country between February and June. "Teachers can use the play as a lateral approach to teaching children about the Famine. They can see the reality in a dramatic setting," says the director, Susie Kennedy. In the "pupil activity pack" children are told to write what they know about their ancestors and the history of the Famine in their local area.
Children are also encouraged to explore the themes of the play, which include loss and the difference between stories and lies. Kennedy stresses that the play raises questions rather than providing answers. Moral debates tend to rage in the classroom over whether Aine should have kept a sum of money originally taken by tricksters in a fraudulent land deal: "It is about survival, and how to make your way in the world Kennedy says.
The Voyage is accompanied by music, singing and sound effects and the actors are Eveanna O'Meara, Mark O'Brien, Helen Roche, Shane Conaty and Guy Carlton. There are no child actors: "The show is touring all over the country, we couldn't have child actors," Kennedy explains. "Anyway, for a part like Aine, we'd have needed that wee girl, Anna Paquin, who was in The Piano".
This is the second play Paula Meehan has written for Team (the first was Kirkle, about a six-year-old with an imaginary friend). Meehan, who is better known as one of Ireland's leading poets, has also written a play for Rough Magic. This adult play, Mrs Sweeney, will be performed at the Project the Mint in May: "Poetry and plays are not too far apart," she observes. "In both I love the magic of the live situation."