Some 30 pupils from St Mary's National School, Donnybrook, Dublin, are arranged around the floor of the bar in the Abbey Theatre in groups of six. Their concentration is intense. Dressed in bright red and navy tracksuits, they are busily examining documents belonging to the theatre. Their brief is to report back on their findings to the Abbey's board of directors.

The documents (copies actually) include theatre posters, programmes, letters and newspaper clippings relating to key periods in the national theatre's history. They are contained in the "Archives Resource Box", an educational resource which was launched by the Abbey last week.

Each group of children has been allotted a particular period to study: 1904 - the opening of the Abbey; 1907 - the Playboy riots; 1910 - the quarrel over the Abbey's refusal to close as a mark of respect for the dead King Edward; 1916 - the Rising; 1951 - the fire; and 1966 - the reopening of the theatre.

The youngsters inspect the documents meticulously and report back to international drama consultant Dr Cecily O'Neill. She has developed the resource box in conjunction with the theatre's outreach/ education programme.

"It gives children the opportunity to work as historians on original material," she says. "It's not filtered history."

The project complements the aims of the revised primary history curriculum. "A lot more interesting and fun than reading history textbooks" is the verdict of the St Mary's pupils. Their teacher, Claire Higgins, is equally impressed. "It allows the children to work co-operatively and it's amazing how much they remember," she says.

The Abbey plans to use the resource box as a resource for fifth- and sixth-year pupils and will lend it to local schools. F

The theatre hopes to get additional funding to produce more boxes and make them available to education centres around the State.

Not to be outdone, Galloglass Theatre Company is bringing its popular production of Gulliver's Travels to a number of venues around the country, from Limerick and Tralee to Armagh and Enniskillen.

The production is accompanied by an extensive outreach programme, aimed at second-level students and community groups.

According to the company, participants will get the opportunity to explore issues of identity and discrimination and examine their prejudice towards other cultures.