ABSTRACT
It has long been understood by practitioners of Theatre in Education that the negotiation of the tensions at the heart of their practice is key to its success. We might define these tensions as: entertainment versus education or artistry versus didacticism. Is there also a tension for performers between the aesthetics and the ethics of TiE for young children; between the pleasurable effects of a play’s artistry and the ethics of presenting a programme that honestly and with integrity addresses
the concerns of the stakeholders (schools, funding agencies), providing children with a programme that is neither pleasurable at the expense of its educational agenda nor vice versa? This chapter will argue that it is, in fact, only when they attend fully to issues of artistry and the aesthetic that devisers of TiE are being truly ethical in their approach; that only through such attention can their work engage their audiences and begin to address whatever didactic objectives they might be claiming to have. The argument will take the form of an analysis of a programme for Year 1 children (five-and six-year-olds) that toured Birmingham schools in 2004 and for which I was the external evaluator. It was devised and performed by Language Alive, part of the Playhouse, a well established TiE company with a strong reputation for participatory work that skilfully addresses learning outcomes whilst always placing issues of artistry at the forefront of its concerns.
