Theatre for Young Audiences: A Critical Handbook

One of the UK s most distinctive areas of arts practice is theatre for young audiences. This edited collection gathers together new and original work on the topics, practices and critical perspectives which characterize theatre for the young. It features chapters on theatre and ownership, active spectatorship and audience interaction. Others focus on specific audiences such as children and young people with profound disabilities or nonverbal audiences. A chapter looks at creative methods such as using child s play to create plays for children; another considers how to develop our understanding about children s perception of theatre created for them through interviewing them and studying their drawings. Other chapters discuss how to connect teenagers with Shakespeare s work; how theatre can engage with children in a globalized multicultural society; the current status of Theatre in Education in the UK; and the work staged by the National Theatre for young audiences.

This wide range of topics will appeal to academics, students and theatre practitioners working within the growing field of theatre for the young. For educators interested in the benefits of school-related theatre visits and the young audiences engagement with performances created specifically for them, this book is a rich source of information.

The contributors include Gill Brigg, David Broster, Dominic Hingorani, Jeanne Klein Geoffrey Readman, James Reynolds, Matthew Reason, Peter Wynne-Willson, Jan Wozniak and Oily Cart s Tim Webb.