2017 Imaginate Delegate writing about Scotland's Children's Theatre Sector

In 2017, I was one of the lucky 5 students whose application was selected to be an Imaginate Delegate. This and going to see Catherine Wheels White inspired me to write my dissertation, which I recently completed on the 22nd of April, 2019.

Going in order, my first experience of Theatre for Young Audiences was a Catherine Wheels production, White, which I attended with Edinburgh College. I remember vividly what a magical wonderland the set was. I was astonished, I had never seen anything quite like it. Even the benches intended for seating, while very practical for the children, had a lot of charm about them.The actors made the experience with the life they breathed into the characters. Also, Andy Manley as Cotton, put the cherry on the cake by including us in his closing dialogue;

“When you go back to School....or college”

This sent our whole class into laughter! White had engaged us, in our very late teens. The experience has stuck with me for two years now.

Earlier this year I took my younger sister, Lucy, to see Catherine Wheel's The Story of the Little Gentleman because I wanted her to experience the magic that the company had to offer. Back in 2017, I also snapped up the delegate opportunity because I wanted to see more of what Children's Theatre had to offer.

Being an Imaginate Delegate

Being a Delegate was a marvellous experience. First of all, it was a great opportunity to meet other students in the same field as myself from different educational establishments.

Secondly, we got to hear a lot from those in the sector such as Lu Kemp. Our engagement with her was in a small group, the conversation was really in depth and invaluable for this reason.

We got to see two productions, Falling Dreams and Evil. It was the visuals in Falling Dreams that stunned me. I distinctly remember the use of projection and the crow character. The darkness of it both inspired and impressed me. Evil was even darker but this time, as a solo monologue, words were its source of power. It was incredibly stirring and I felt like it did justice to the issue of abuse. It did not appear to be glorified in any way. Falling Dreams came all the way from the Netherlands and Evil from Denmark.

Upon reflection, these early experiences shaped the way I approached the dissertation I wrote in 2019, for my last year of my Performance honours degree. In it, I began by investigating the dark themes covered by children's theatre performances. I went on to examine the Funding situation, which was fairly new to me. In the first and last chapters, Denmark and international Theatre's influence on Theatre for Young Audiences is explored. I feel like I gained further insight about the sector and I am very proud to have done so.

Often, I feel Theatre for Young People is overlooked. I notice people take their Children to Pantomimes, which is fantastic. However, Children's Theatre appears to be somewhat broader and more explorative, with more potential benefits and variety of shared experiences to offer.

Of course, this is my personal view point after conducting my own research. In my dissertation I aim to be as objective as possible, while every writer has a bias. It has taught me more about academic writing. I am very glad it has been such a great opportunity for growth!