‘Producing’ childhood: The making of childhood and children in theatre

Abstract

The performance of child roles and childhood on stage requires specific skills and resources. It also depends upon certain acting strategies and training. This article explores productions for children by theatre companies in India, analysing the meaning of these performance abilities, strategies and their relation to chronological age, experience and actors’ appearances. It shows how the conceptualisation of childhood and its ontological status can benefit from theatre as a locus of inquiry in which only adults can professionally perform childhood.

Who do you think you are? Children's definitions of being a ‘child’

“…Questioning what childhood is and who the child is, was central to the development of Childhood Studies (CS). To articulate the social construction of childhood, research focused on how society shapes childhood, through legislation, the economy and culture and how discourses of childhood vary historically and culturally (Hendrick, 1997;James & James, 2004;Qvortrup, 2009;Sen, 2021). Many argued that children constituted a subordinate minority group with fewer rights than adults (Alanen, 2001;Alderson, 2020;Mayall, 2001Mayall, , 2002 and limited recognition as 'citizens' (Bacon & Frankel, 2014).…”

“…Over the past 20 years, critiques of social constructionist perspectives, and the biological/social dualisms (Prout, 2005) it can set in play have meant that ‘few works pursue the question of what childhood is or who the child is’ (Sen, 2021: 73). However, scrutinising the language children use to talk about children is important in understanding how they construct the category child, and their relationship with it.…”