The young audience : exploring and enhancing children's experiences of theatre

'The young audience' provides vital insights into how we can better support and enhance children's engagement with theatre. Its exploration of how young children perceive and respond to live theatre performances is invaluable for teachers, artists, researchers, students, policy makers and other professionals working with theatre or with young children in other contexts and environments. Content: Part One: Contexts and Questions -- 1. Theatre for Children and Education / Philip Pullman: Theatre -- the true key stage -- 2. From Audience Development to Cultural Rights -- Tony Graham: Children grow up not down -- 3. Quality in Theatre for Children -- Peter Manscher and Peter Jankovic: Eye-level -- Part Two: The Theatrical Experience -- 4. Researching Children's lived Experiences of Theatre -- 5. Theatrical Illusion and Material Reality -- 6. Theatrical Competence -- 7. Moral or Metaphorical Engagement -- Part Three: Enhancing Engagement -- 8. Enhancing Engagement -- 9. Drawing on the Experience -- 10. Talking about Theatre Talking about Theatre resource -- Conclusion 'Looking': Photographs by Lisa Barnard -- The Audience's Gaze. Abstract: Explores the nature of young children's experiences of live theatre. Suitable for teachers, artists, researchers, policy makers and other professionals working with theatre and with children in various other contexts and environments, this work provides insights into how we can better support and enhance children's engagement with theatre. Read more... Childrens theatre in the UK is thriving right now. Interest is growing in the educational, emotional and expressive benefits of theatre for young people; arguments about why children should watch theatre have become a central motif in debates about cultural policy and arts education. Yet, surprisingly, there has been almost no detailed and reflective research on these matters. While young children (aged 4-11) are increasingly provided for in terms of tailored theatre performances, the nature of childrens theatrical perceptions and their experiences of being in an audience has scarcely been investigated. This book uses innovative visual-arts based audience research, practitioner interviews and contextual analysis to fill this gap in research and explore the nature of young childrens experiences of live theatre. It investigates three primary * the cultural policy, educational and creative contexts in which theatre for children is made * childrens aesthetic experiences of theatre * the approaches through which childrens engagement with theatre can be enhanced, extended and deepened