“Not All Performing Is Acting”1: Models of Theatre as Research in Contemporary Theatre for Young Audiences

This article examines three models of theatre as research in the field of theatre for young audiences (TYA). What different models of researching theatre are there? With the first model, I introduce and discuss theatre as a critical reflection of rationalistic concepts of knowledge. Under the term “artistic research,” advanced arts meet with “kulturelle Bildung” (“cultural education”) in a common critique of, and in distinction from, traditional educational institutions. Theatre as research like I present it with the second model does not take for granted any agreement about the concept of theatre. Instead, it displays theatre as an art form that is deeply bound to specific cultural and historical contexts. Within the third model of theatre as research in TYA, the object of research is children's reflection of their social environments and their urban setting. To offer a broadened concept of theatre means literally to open the theatre and enter the public space. The theatre becomes a laboratory and experiment as it inquires, irritates, and redesigns social conditions with artistic strategies.