pageants, camp skits, or recreation department programs in which children act for other
children’ (5), and in Britain its most important manifestation is the school play.
‘Children’s theatre’ is Goldberg’s title for ‘a formal theatrical experience in which a
play is presented for an audience of children’ (5). Its purpose is to entertain, and to
encourage enjoyment of theatre as an art form. Although children may appear in child
roles in such plays, the assumption is that most parts will be played by adults, and
usually by professional actors. Children who appear may be professionals themselves,
perhaps attending drama schools and hoping for a career in theatre; they will not be
acting because someone thinks it will be good for them. Such professional performances
are classified by Goldberg as ‘Youth Theatre’ if they are designed for the 14–18 age
group.
These are useful distinctions. However, in Britain the term ‘Youth Theatre’ is used
rather differently, and defined by the Standing Conference of Young People’s Theatre
(SCYPT) as ‘theatre done by young people themselves, usually led by a teacher or under
the auspices of a Young People’s Company’ (England 1990:1): that is, it is a branch of
recreational theatre.
Because theatrical companies and professional actors are now widely involved in the
educational process, not just in mounting productions for children’s aesthetic pleasure
but in visiting schools and other youth venues for educational purposes, and not just as
performers but with a professional identity which straddles acting and teaching, two
other terms have come into common use to designate activities which Goldberg’s
categories do not fully cover. They are ‘Young People’s Theatre’ and ‘Theatre in
Education’.
‘Young People’s Theatre’ refers to ‘a performance by professional actors in an
educational context, or in any space where young people form the audience, such as
youth clubs or community centres. It is frequently based on social issues’. ‘Theatre in
Education’ (TIE) is
work done by professional actor-teachers in a school context. The primary aim is to
use theatre and drama to create a wide range of learning opportunities across the
whole curriculum. Typically TIE works with one class for at least half a day and in
addition to performance, the programme involves some active participation on the
part of the pupils.(I am indebted for these descriptions to the British Centre of ASSITEJ (Association
Internationale du Théâtre pour l’Enfance et la Jeunesse) which has done a great deal in
recent years to promote ideas and activity across national frontiers in all branches of
theatre for the young.)
These categories cover almost everything that currently occurs in the field of children’s
drama, with one exception: dramatic performances of professional quality by children
designed for audiences of adults (or for both adults and children). Nowadays these are
rare, but not unknown. The film (and some stage productions) of Alan Parker’s Bugsy
Malone (1984) is perhaps the most successful and well known achievement of this kind
in recent years. In the past, however, quasi-professional performances by children for
adults have been an important feature of our theatre history. It should also be
206 DRAMA