Bakom kulisserna. Barnperspektiv och konstnärliga visioner på en teater för barn och unga

Abstract

In a society with a growing focus on children’s rights, it is highly relevant to examine how these rights are translated into practice. This ethnographic study investigates how children’s perspectives are integrated within theatre for children and youth. The purpose of this study is to examine how the theater staff work to create and adapt theatre performances for a young audience, and to the extent to which children’s perspectives influence this work. The empirical material was gathered through ethnographic methods, such as participant observation during the workday and interviews with the theater staff. The results show a conflict between artistic decisions and children’s perspectives. While the theater actively works to listen to the children and integrate their reactions, the children's influence is simultaneously bound by adult frameworks, norms, and artistic visions. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how the theater utilizes age categories and generalizations to make sense of children as an audience while simultaneously producing deviations and perceptions regarding appropriate and inappropriate audience behavior. This highlights how children’s perspectives are both enabled and limited in practice within theatre. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of how children’s right to influence is interpreted and translated into the practical work of the theater, as well as the challenges that arise in the encounter between adult producers and children as an audience.