As the voice of the child and a child’s right to be heard are central themes of Zoe's Play, The Ark invited children in some of the schools attending the performance to make their own voices heard by sending a written response to the question – "what one thing would make Ireland a happier place?".
Written as a captivating prequel to a well-loved fairytale, Zoe’s Play tells the story of a child who recognizes that her father’s actions are leading to dangerous consequences for the forest surrounding her home. As the wolves living in the forest are driven to find alternative sources of food, Zoe struggles to make her father pay attention to her concerns for her grandmother’s safety.
As the voice of the child and a child’s right to be heard are central themes of the play, The Ark invited children in the schools attending the performance to make their own voices heard by sending a written response to the question – ‘what one thing would make Ireland a happier place?’.
We weren’t at all surprised to learn that Irish children are a very altruistic group. Just like the heroine in the play, the children expressed great empathy with the world around them. By far the most common concern expressed was for the environment – “there are hardly any forests in Ireland, animals are dying out and forests are fun!”; “If fisherman fish too much then one day there will be no fish in the sea anymore. And the sea needs fish because there are other animals who eat fish.”; a number of children who responded also felt that better recreational facilities would improve the quality of their lives “I would plant more trees and flowers to make parks just for picnics with popcorn stands and bands playing. I would make sure there was free WiFi wherever you go and then people would spend more time in the parks and out of offices and still get their work done. All the kids and adults would be much happier!”
Concern for homeless people also featured strongly “If we all volunteer our energy, skills and time for children that are not as lucky as we are. For example we could make…food a bit less expensive in some shops”; “You could do really cheap houses for poor families so they can stay in a house.”
Frustrations with traffic and transport were also expressed “People drive crazy and don't follow the rules of the road. I believe a solution is by the traffic lights put a police man so policeman can watch the cars.” And the fact that “Signs that tell you when the buss is due is not accurate. It just says due, but it is far away. A solution is have more busses and a warning if the bus is going to be late.”
One child made a very strong point about the importance of self-belief “I would make everyone believe in themselves and in Ireland. If we believe we can do anything we can. We see examples all around us of how belief has made huge change in the world. If Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison did not believe, would we have discovered how to use electricity? If the Wright Brothers did not believe, would we have aeroplanes? If Barack Obama did not believe, would he be the first African American President? Therefore, if we all believe we can make Ireland a great country then we can!”
And of course, being children living in Ireland, the weather gets the last word “I would change the weather so that we could have more sun shine because the sunshine makes people happy. After when the rain stops the rainbow will come out from the sky. “
See photos of all the children's answers or watch a clip of children from St Kilian's German School in Clonskeagh tell RTE's News2Day what they think would make Ireland happier.
Zoe’s Play for children aged 8+ is now running at The Ark with public performances at weekends and during the Easter Holidays until 31 March. Book now.