An unusual cultural event gets under way this week on the waterways of the midlands, when a floating theatre takes to the Grand Canal to bring a series of events to rural children.
The 63-foot Enterprise, a restored canal barge which was built in 1922 to carry gravel, will bring theatre, theatrical training and live performances to 15 primary schools along its route.
During the summer, the barge will spend a week in schools along the canal teaching and encouraging children to express themselves on stage. This year the theme of the tour will be The Sons of Tuireann, an ancient tale which the children will re-create writing their own scripts, making their own props and injecting as much local folklore into the happening as they can.
The tour on Ireland's only floating theatre will build on the success of the venture last year which saw the floating summer school bring The Tain Voyage to the schools in Kildare and Offaly.
Anton Barrett, of the Offaly LEADER 11 rural development programme, explained the background to this experiment, which has proven so successful. He said the idea for the floating theatre came from two men, Conal Kearney and Derek Waters, who restored the canal barge for the purpose of promoting theatre.
"They received a lot of help from people in the business world and from others like Offaly sporting star Johnny Dooley, who had worked on the project," he said.
"The project had received funding from LEADER groups in both Kildare and Offaly because it met the criteria for bringing theatre and arts training to communities which were off the beaten track.
"It proved a great success. The children love it and the schools were very supportive. Their parents liked the idea as well and last year in Ferbane, more than 400 turned up to a quay-side performance," he said.
Anton said that the team, which is backed up by Yvonne Claffey, an artist from Birr, spends a week in each school along the route, teaching and training the children.
All the children are involved in writing the script for the performance and some take part in the acting. The others are involved in making the sets, so all the children in schools visited by the barge become involved.
"This year we are putting £20,000 into the project because it has been so successful and in arts funding terms it costs less than £30 per child," he said.
"We are proud to be associated with such an innovative and creative project, which brings so much pleasure to children and parents along the canalway.
"It is exactly the kind of project which a rural development programme should focus on because of its creativity and its value in helping enhance the quality of life in rural areas."