Staging childhoods : experiments in authentic theatre making practice with children

This practice-led PhD project investigates the ways in which society positions children through a broad set of social, cultural and historical considerations and examines these within the frame of theatre making. The study proposes a model of practice that moves beyond participant empowerment toward a more dynamic understanding of the creative process that sees adults and children working together to create mainstream artistic product. It contends that this model creates conditions conducive to authentic theatre making practice with children as evidenced in the researcher’s original performance work Joy Fear and Poetry.