Inclusive Theatre for and with Children and Young People

This Lab prioritised creating a space for children and young people to share the full arc of their theatre experience from entering the building to leaving it, and in doing so created a clear mechanism through which their wishes, frustrations and responses could directly shape work made for them.

Josh Elliott, VX Artistic Director

The lab was met with enthusiasm from all participants and offered valuable insight into a process that challenged assumptions about what accessible theatre for children can be.

Disabled-led theatre devised for and with children and young people is built through equitable collaboration, where what if questions are encouraged rather than closed down. participants described the lab as a “joyful process” which resulted in “making the work better”, “more playful”, and “more exciting creatively”.

Findings emphasised the importance of recognising lived experience as central to the work and highlighted the im-portance of the often-invisible labour around making work (preparation, partnerships, care, and time) arguing that these interstitial spaces or ‘spaces between structures’ are vital.

Crucially, the Lab demonstrated that accessible theatre for children is not a compromise on artistic quality, but a driver of it.