(Re)Locating the Boundaries of Children's Theatre in Singapore - A Case Study on I Theatre Ltd

Abstract

Children?s theatre in Singapore has been present for many years and has enjoyed complexity and diversity over time. Increasingly, children?s theatre has risen in prominence in many countries worldwide. However, children?s theatre in Singapore is almost an unexplored territory and is often given a mere token acknowledgment of its presence in the local theatre landscape. As such, theoretical discourse is limited when it comes to children?s theatre due to the lack of research work.

In Singapore, we face a paradoxical situation in which the boundaries of children?s theatre are constructed through the eyes of adults and their perception. This paper discusses how children?s theatre is treated and has been packaged as a pedagogical product with a checklist of characteristics for it to be validated as ?good theatre?. In this thesis, I propose that watching, participating and engaging in children?s theatre should first and foremost be a process that foregrounds the value of communication in theatre. More specifically, the boundaries of children?s theatre should be pushed to include the communication processes between the performers on stage, the adult and children audiences.

This paper also aims to challenge the preconceived notions and views of children?s theatre and provide a debate on how by (re)locating the existing boundaries, we can raise further questions on the artistic, educational and cultural communicative function in children?s theatre that might be pertinent to the broader study of theatre. In doing so, this thesis challenges how the boundaries in children?s theatre can also grow from the children?s? concern: their own ways of seeing, responding and understanding theatre. Equally important, this thesis also raises issues such as the validity and limitations of evaluating such categories.