The Right Stories
Children Don’t Need Simplicity, They Need Beauty
The right stories make children what they become
By Andrew Baker, Artistic Director
I’ve been reading a new book - ‘The Uses Of Enchantment’ by Dr. Bruno Bettelheim - and it’s got me thinking about what makes a story ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ for young audiences.
First published in 1976, Bettelheim’s book argues for the irreplaceable importance of fairy tales. Considered one of the Twentieth Century’s most eminent Psychoanalysts working with children, Bettelheim has some really interesting stuff to say about children’s relationship to stories and how they are steppingstones on our way to leading a meaningful life.
At the heart of his argument, Bettelheim presents a resounding observation:
“[a] mature understanding of ourselves and the world, and our ideas about the meaning of life [develop] as slowly as our bodies and our minds.”
He talks about a person’s inner resources - emotion, imagination, and intellect - develop over time, and that the wrong stories can cheat a child out of what they should gain from experiencing stories:
“access to deeper meaning, and that which is meaningful to [them] at [their] stage of development.”
Bettelheim then goes on to pontificate on all things Freud and Fairytales for 310 pages. It’s worth a read but not without its many flaws. For one, this book was clearly written in the 70s and is ignorant of a lot of what we know now about child development. And, as with anything Freudian, there is little room for individuality - ‘All children at this stage all experience stories in this exact way’.
But, it has got me thinking about the stories we tell children and what makes them ‘right’. Do our productions develop children’s inner resources and are they meaningful at their stage of development?
This way of thinking puts a lot of pressure on us as children’s theatre-makers - and quite rightly so. Bettelheim’s criticism of “so-called children’s literature” that only seeks to entertain or inform is devalued if it adds nothing of importance to a child’s future life. The stories they experience need to help children acquire the skills to be emotionally mature, empathetic, and robust adults - internalised stories are the framework on which we hang our character, our meaning, and our self-worth.
So, what can we do with this information? I suppose the first step is to be absolutely clear about what age your production is for. Or rather, what’s important to children at that stage of development? This kind of research goes beyond “Oh, well they’re studying this in school…” and delves deeper into a more important line of questioning - What is there current sense of self? How developed is their emotional intelligence? Their empathy? Their reasoning? What challenges do they face? What makes them anxious? In what do they recognise themselves?
These are big questions and hard to answer alone, but there are those out there who can help. Along our road, we’ve sought advice from child psychologists, teachers and parents in preparations for projects. But, first and foremost, we ask the children themselves.
During our development periods, we partner with youth theatre groups for a ‘sort of’ knowledge exchange. We run workshops for them on theatre practices (ensemble work, theatre design, storytelling, etc) and in return the group feedback on our work in progress, getting involved in the creative process.
Even so, we are still only scraping the tip of the iceberg when it comes to truly understanding how we can best serve our audiences. It requires a dedication to research and the application of new or developing practices.
I suppose the ‘right’ story is less about what you tell, and more about how and why you’re telling it…
What children’s stories can you say had a huge impact on the person you are today?