Taboos in Theatre for Young Audiences

Abstract

Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) is historically rife with taboos in form and content. Contradictory notions of what can and what cannot be shown to children and youth, often couched in notions of appropriateness, are to be found in any country and culture that has a thriving TYA network (Morcillo Boletin). One of the many enigmas in TYA research is that some of its truisms (the existence of taboos, or subjects and forms kids “would not get” or are “inappropriate” and thus should be avoided) have never really been systematically researched. Sure we all know taboos in TYA exist—TYA is for children after all—but unlike children’s literature, which in many cases has accepted the discussion and presence of taboo issues, or at least made them “controversial” and thus part of a scholarly discourse, in TYA we tend to simply bypass the question. Interestingly though, in 2010 and 2011, two events, a forum on taboos in TYA in Argentina and a colloquium in Mexico, addressed the issue directly. The First International Forum of Researchers and Critics in Theatre for Children and Youth was held in Buenos Aires in July 2010, during which the topic of taboo in TYA was discussed for five days in keynotes, plenary papers, roundtables, and post-performance discussions by an international group of researchers and practitioners.1 In Pueblo, Mexico, in March 2011, a colloquium was held including a special session on the same topic.2