From the orchards of Armagh to a US dream factory

Northern Irish director Paul Bosco McEneaney is taking part in the most magical adventure of his upwardly mobile career – seeing his work on the Imagination Stage in Washington DC

WHEN HE was six years old, he pestered his parents to buy him a magic set and soon the boy wizard was putting on little shows to entertain friends and family, whether they liked it or not. By the time he was 10, he was taking bookings for gigs at his local leisure centre in Armagh.

Now Paul Bosco McEneaney is involved in the most magical adventure of his upwardly mobile career, directing a flagship show for the 30th anniversary of the world-famous Imagination Stage in Washington DC, the largest multi-disciplinary theatre arts organisation for young people in the US capital.

McEneaney is the founder and artistic director of Cahoots NI, a Belfast-based company, which produces world-class theatre for children. Inspired by his boyish enthusiasm and boundless imagination, its output is prodigious, combining ambitious new work with small-scale travelling workshops and performances at festivals in the Far East, Europe and the US.

In 2007, the company was invited to the US capital to take part in a showcase of Northern Ireland arts and culture at that year’s Smithsonian Festival. It was there that Janet Stanford, artistic director of Imagination Stage, first spotted McEneaney’s work and vowed to entice him back at the earliest opportunity.

Prior to his arrival at the start of June, staff at the Imagination Stage had raised a collective eyebrow at the delivery of several large metal crates from Belfast. McEneaney reassured them that they contained nothing more sinister than the tricks of his trade, the stuff of illusions and special effects, which would be unveiled in due course.

At the end of an intensive three-week rehearsal period, he is buzzing with the high octane build-up to opening night, just hours away. “I have had an amazing experience,” he says. “This is a fantastic venue, which puts children at the heart of everything. My ambition with our own productions has always been for standards to be so, so high. Here I’ve been given the means to achieve those standards.

"I have 27 people on my production team. There are four working on costume, along with the costume designer. There are three working on music. There's a sound engineer and a sound recordist. It's like a dream factory." The show is a stage adaptation of Melinda Long's picture book How I Became a Pirate. McEneaney praises Alyn Cardarelli's script and lyrics for the way in which they have maintained the spirit of the original by taking David Shannon's illustrations and writing around them.

“The script is a joy,” he says. “To be handed it is such a gift. With Cahoots, I’m the one who does the devising or the adaptation. The first part of the rehearsal process almost always entails working on the script with the actors. Here I’ve been able to have fun and play around with it without spending valuable time worrying about the narrative.” He has also been impressed by the calibre of his cast.

"Working with such wonderful actors is a big plus. Back home there can be a perception that children's theatre is in some way a lesser art form. Not so, here. I did an interview for the Washington Postand the journalist told me that three of her favourite actors are in the show. It's great to see the crème de la crème of the acting world wanting to work in children's theatre."

But his head has not been entirely turned by the Washington experience. Known for being thoughtful and sensitive to the needs of his audiences, McEneaney explains that there is one crucial aspect of the operation, which leaves him feeling decidedly queasy: “There is very little public funding here, so ticket prices are high. The result is that it’s mainly middle- class families who can afford them. We’re here in this magnificent building in the heart of Bethesda, which is a very affluent area, yet there are whole sectors of the community that our work does not reach. I’ve noticed, for example, how few black faces I have seen in the preview audiences.

“And there’s another aspect of the process, which presents a dilemma. A great deal of the money comes from donations by wealthy people – only about 5 per cent of the costs of this production are paid for by the government. That has a knock-on effect on content. The donors have a real sense of ownership of the work and therefore a big say in making sure that it is safe, predictable, not risky or upsetting in any way to their children.

“When I think of a company like Replay (in Belfast), whose remit is theatre-in-education and takes on issues like suicide, homelessness, alcoholism . . . that would never happen here. The result is a big headache for the creative team. They’re desperate to do more challenging work but are hamstrung because of financial constraints.

“Artistic challenge comes with a very small ‘c’. My pirates are not allowed to carry pistols. The next show here mentions divorce, in passing, and they are really worried about how it will go down. I am in the middle of it, looking around, wide-eyed, and going ‘this is all incredible’, but also so frustrated for my colleagues.”

He says he has acquired a new sense of perspective about the funding situation back home, where, in spite of resources and finances being stretched to breaking point, arts organisations are encouraged by the funding bodies to push the envelope and produce challenging work to the highest possible standards.

He plans to nurture the already fruitful relationship he is forging between Cahoots and the Imagination Stage and intends returning the favour by inviting Stanford (whose husband comes from Derry) to direct a show in Belfast. “It’s her wish to do a hard-edged piece and she can’t do it here.

“I have introduced my own bold, direct style to these actors and they have absolutely loved it.

“I’m coming away fuelled with energy and with a burning ambition to get something like this set up in Ireland. I’ve always been passionate about children’s theatre and I’m convinced that the only way of making it really count is by putting something structurally in place.

“It’s not just about the work on the stage, it’s about bricks, mortar, drapes, seats. I want to say to kids, you are important, you are the audience of right now, not the audience of the future. So here’s your work, here’s your building.”