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

Sammanfattning

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