I’ve surprised myself by not yet posting anything about theatre specifically geared towards children. I am usually (as I mentioned earlier in the whale post) deeply disturbed by the lack of intellect and imagination in children’s theatre that I have experienced. During the summer I run a theatre camp for children in my town, and thus have gotten to experience some of this horror first-hand. I think that part of this disaster comes from many parents’ expectations about children’s theatre. If their children are watching it, it should be simple, joyful and easy to understand. If their children are performing in it, it should be simple, joyful and their child should be featured. As if we do not put enough limitations on theatre and children individually, I am concerned that the introduction of theatre to children will be transformed into some horrific formal mainstream monstrosity. In other words, flattening out the world of theatre before children can ever begin to explore it or use it to express themselves.
ANYWAY-
As I was chugging barium in a Boston hospital this past week, I opened the only thing there was to read — Boston Parents Paper — and discovered a kindred spirit…
Norton Juster is the author of the children’s classic The Phantom Tollbooth which has just premiered in its theatrical form at the Wheelock Family Theatre of Boston. The author was the one with the idea to do a stage/musical adaptation of his work, and pitched it to the theatre which accepted the project. I am a supporter of Juster’s work because of his philosophy about entertainment (specifically textual) for children. He recounts publishing The Phantom Tollbooth:
“It was given to an editor who wasn’t a children’s editor, and it had a vocabulary that horrified most people involved with children’s literature because it was “too difficult.” It did everything wrong…When it first came out, they said it was only for bright children, but that’s not the case. I think we sometimes do a disservice to our kids when we try to steer them into the things we think they will understand. Kids understand a lot more than we have any idea, and we tend to short circuit that by trying to sensor. Let them run amok.”
Here, Juster reminds us that contrary to what we may want to believe, children possess the same complicated emotional capacity as adults. Thus, I believe (as it seems does Juster) that we should present them with the opportunity to enjoy entertainment that is a real exploration of these complexities (If not The Phantom Tollbooth, think A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, etc.).
I can only hope that the Wheelock Theatre does firm justice to Norton Juster’s philosophy, and does not deprive its young but complex audience with a show it deserves to see.
