"It's different because it is specially for children. When you go to the theatre it will be like a memory you'll never forget. It will reach into your imagination," says Akanksha. "Now I could say to my family, 'let's go to the theatre, it's for people like us'," adds Bobby.
Akanksha and Bobby are talking about what it has meant for them to be involved in the development of the first purpose-built professional theatre for children, located on the South Bank in London. They and other children from Tower Bridge Primary School have spent three years working with the Unicorn Theatre on all aspects of the design, including interviewing candidates for the theatre's public artist role.
As part of their work, the young consultants visited theatres all over London. For most it was their first visit, and often they took their parents. Tony Graham, Unicorn's artistic director, is an obvious enthusiast: "We've always felt that children have a cultural entitlement and we've worked for many years to provide them with the opportunity to experience theatre. When we started planning for a new theatre we consulted with schools, and the young consultants scheme was born," he says.
He claims that the work connected powerfully to the national curriculum, but highlights how, in particular, it boosted the self-esteem of children living in this disadvantaged area.
This belief is echoed by Gemma, another young consultant: "It's a chance to have something new in the place where we live. Like go down to the Mayor's office, and there's the theatre, right by Tower Bridge. And it's going to be named after the Unicorn and it's for children, not just adults."
The costs are being met largely by the Arts Council, the London Development Agency, the London Borough of Southwark and the Pool of London Partnership, though more is needed before it can open next autumn.
Relatively few theatre companies will be able emulate Unicorn's feat, not least due to financial constraints. But there's no shortage of organisations exposing children to the performing arts, and involving them in the creation and performance of drama. Nor is there much doubt that performing arts can stimulate creativity and self-esteem, and enable children to explore and experience the world in new ways.
Contemporary challenges
Perhaps inevitably, there are many challenges. For example, Tony Fegan, director of learning at Lift, the London International Festival of Theatre, believes that in urban areas in particular performing arts may need to be rethought: "There is a real challenge for theatre companies to find contemporary material that speaks across cultural divides, and which can connect with children whose main experiences of performing and performance are via TV or computer screens," he says.
This calls for fresh approaches. Lift itself commissioned a project called Feast, in which primary school children worked with a team of artists, a gardener and a chef to grow and harvest their own crops using a local allotment. It culminated in them serving meals "in a theatrical mode".
Broadened definitions of performing arts are also being employed to engage very young children, and those with learning or physical disabilities and complex needs. Michelle Ravey, music and performing arts co-ordinator at the Knowsley Central Primary Support Centre, believes the arts, "inspire and motivate pupils, encouraging a sense of self worth and self-esteem".
She adds that the award-winning school, which caters for children with complex learning disabilities and emotional and behavioural difficulties, achieves much of its success precisely because of its substantial programmes of drama and other arts work.
Drama for everyone
One of the most well-known companies in this area is Oily Cart. Its current show for under-fours is Hippity Hop, in which children are invited to celebrate the music, mixing, rapping, poetry, dance and visuals of street culture.
Its Conference of the Birds show is aimed at children with profound and multiple learning disabilities and their parents or carers. It's described as a highly interactive, multi-sensory performance inspired by a 12th century Persian poem and the movement, habits and sounds of birds. The show takes place within an enchanted, nest-like environment and offers a multi-sensory production adaptable for the needs of each audience member.
In addition, live music incorporates the young people's names into improvised lyrics while they relax in swing-and-sway leaf chairs. And there is an extra "strand" for children and young people with autistic spectrum disorders.
Oily Cart's director, Tim Webb, explains that the show was developed for and with special schools, and can be adapted in the light of the children's reactions and experiences. "We found that severely disabled children usually show more interest in projected shots of individual faces rather than group shots.
"The performance is very focused, and often elicits responses that are beyond the expectations of the child's parents or carers. And it can reveal aspects of the children that their parents or teachers can subsequently use."
Two of the key performers in each show have learning disabilities. One is Mark Foster, who's been at Oily Cart for seven years. "I'm on their level in their eyes. I do poetry and dance with them, I make them smile.
There's music, sounds and magic that help them not to feel poorly, but happy and proud. I've seen parents and staff surprised at what can happen, and to see that children can cope. It's about freedom," he says.
Oily Cart survives because it draws in funds from trusts and charities, and because Hippity Hop is supported by some Sure Start programmes. Even so, Webb emphasises that demand continues to outstrip supply massively.
The Arts Council for England, for example, provides over 100m to support 50 producing companies, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, all of which, says a spokesperson, have programmes for young people, plus an extra 1.5m to support drama in schools and with young people. Meanwhile a proportion of the 205m given by the Big Lottery Fund to out-of-school learning projects is awarded to those incorporating performance arts.
Whether this is enough is questionable, though. Tony Reekie, director of Imaginate, the arts agency that promotes and develops performing arts for children in Scotland, contrasts the 1m a year devoted to supporting children's theatre there with Denmark, where full state funding is provided to some 75 children's companies.
Another example is the Loud Mouth Educational Theatre Company, which uses performing arts programmes to enable children from the age of 10 and 11 upwards to learn about puberty and sexual health in a fun and non-threatening way. It's overwhelmed by demand and struggles to find enough funds to pay for the work.
Creative and funding challenges apart, there is the fraught issue of the real, or perceived, constraints imposed by the national curriculum.
The exposure to, or involvement in, drama is certainly mentioned at Key Stages 1 and 2, but many schools say they are finding it tough to put this into practice.
Some also fear that government proposals for extended schools could push performing arts activities into the hours beyond the traditional school day. But John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, is adamant that teachers want to see creative arts as a more central part of the curriculum.
Reaping the rewards
Even with these concerns, some schools are reaping the benefits of pupil involvement in the performing arts. Take the Jubilee School in Hackney, east London, which together with the Hackney Music Development Trust and Creative Partnerships London East, involved students and parents in developing and performing an opera, The World Was All Before Them.
Intended to celebrate the diverse cultures of the pupils, the school also hoped the three-part opera would establish the creative arts as central to learning, using a cross-curricular model.
As a result, a professional writer talked to 50 parents about how they had come to Hackney and developed some of these stories with pupils in drama and writing workshops. Out of this came the dramatic structures and the inspiration to begin writing the libretto. At the same time, a series of composition workshops with students developed musical ideas while design workshops created ideas for sets and costumes.
Seventy-five pupils performed in the opera, either solo, in choruses or small groups. "It brought the whole school community together, including a great many parents," reveals deputy head Lesley Faulkner. "It made them feel valued, as well as showing that high expectations in the creative arts can raise standards in core subjects."
CHILDREN'S VOICES
Children at the Jubilee School in Hackney, east London, talk about what they learned from taking part in the opera, The World Was All Before Them
"I've learned that primary school is probably the best time of your life and how to work with other people" Amy Faux, 11
"I felt like I was picked to show what I can do, to do something excellent and challenging" Radeyah Saud, 11
"I've learned that if you put everything into it, you can come up with something amazing" Ruth Shorten, 9
"I learned that we should work as a team and respect one another" Neslihan Karakoy, 8 "Putting on an opera isn't all fun and games, there's a lot of hard work" Leigh Charles, 11
"It was great to learn from the professionals" Laura Piedrahita, 10
TELL ME MORE
- Imaginate www.org.uk
- London International Festival of Theatre www.liftfest.org
- Loud Mouth Educational Theatre Company www.loudmouth.co.uk
- National Campaign for the Arts www.artscampaign.org.uk
- Oily Cart www.oilycart. org.uk
- Theatre in Education www.blackcattheatre.co.uk
- Unicorn Theatre for Children www.unicorntheatre.com
