Rethinking Didactic Theatre for a Young Audience

Didactic theatre for a young audience (TYA) is perceived as a widespread obstacle to the artistic quality and value of TYA. This article rethinks and deconstructs the assumptions that didactic TYA is low-quality, conservative, and unwilling to break taboos, considering changes over the last fifty years. I argue that didactic theatre exploits the medium to deliver a clear message in order to create habitus for young spectators yet may display professional quality as well as break taboos. Discourse opposing didactic theatre does not reflect its prevalence but rather, the desire of artists and scholars to accumulate symbolic capital and prestige for the field and themselves.