Witnessing the possible : investigating the parent and child audience experience at Theatre for Early Years (TEY)

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Live performance designed for children from birth to six years old is a growing field of studyand artistic practice. Little research has taken place however into the experience of the adultspectators who accompany the very young children. In live performance for the very youngest,birth to three, these adults are often parents. This thesis investigates how Theatre for EarlyYears (TEY) spectatorship can be understood within the context of the parent-infantrelationship. 50 adults who had attended live performance with a baby or toddler wereinterviewed, and a case study performance of an immersive theatre event for babies, Float, wasvideo and audio recorded. An interpretive, embodied approach to analysis was taken and themesgenerated from the multi-modal data. Parents were found to value both unpredictability andsafety in TEY; positive experiences were associated with prior knowledge, goodcommunication from artists, and fortuitous alignment with current needs and interests. TEYattendance was found to support parent-child bonding and promote child voice in three ways: 1,enhancing and enabling engagement through responsive companionship; 2, centring the needsand interests of the child when accessing culture; and 3, perceiving aesthetic capacity in thechild as a marker of personhood. The conclusions of this study uphold the value of TEY as partof our cultural landscape, emphasising the importance of inclusivity and choice in access.

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