Louise Owen wonders whether the processes behind child licensing restricts access to participation
Mention child licensing and large-scale productions immediately spring to mind ? ?Annie?, ?Oliver?, ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? and now, of course, ?Billy Elliot?, which famously features three companies of child actors who take it in turns to play the roles of the young people in the story. Child-employment law and its attendant bureaucracy might seem less relevant to the community arts sector but any attempt to make inclusive theatre means that the licensing system will affect this sector more and more. A look at the experiences of London Bubble offers a question as to what the future holds.
London Bubble?s shows ? from outdoor promenades performed by professional actors in parks and public spaces, to stories by first-time theatre-makers in nursery schools ? are quite different to the mega-musicals of the West End. The company?s mission is to increase access to theatre, with affordable ticket prices, imaginative choices of venue for performance and, critically, by offering people opportunities as participants. Rather than thinking of the stage as the preserve of professional actors, the company?s work aims to challenge the distinction between professional and non-professional, foregrounding the pleasure and power of performance created by people of all ages and levels of experience. We call this model of practice Open Performance Theatre (OPT) ? bringing together professional actors and participants in a single company to perform for a public audience.
Impact
United by the common factor of the paying customer, the commercial and community sectors are affected equally by child-licensing regulations. A licence is mandatory for all child performers under the age of 16 for live performances for which admission is charged, and must be applied for by the company producing the performance. The application is made to the Education Welfare Service of the local authority in which the child lives, and consists of:
? An application form in two parts ? one completed by the producer and the other by the parent ? which is then sent to the local authority
? A medical certificate or letter from the child?s doctor confirming the child?s good health
? A letter from the school agreeing that the child is permitted to perform
? Two passport photographs
? The child?s birth certificate (the real one, not a copy) or passport
? A letter of agreement between the producing company and the child?s parent or guardian outlining what the child will be doing in the show.
The licence is granted on condition that all of this information is in place before the child?s first performance, and that they will be supervised by a licensed chaperone. (To get a chaperone licence, a person applies to their borough and has an interview and an enhanced CRB check, which local authorities are especially vigilant about in the light of the Children Act 2004.)
In London Bubble?s production of Cinderella, 79 people performed as Rats, 66 of whom were below the age of 16. The experience was rewarding, but the administrative burden was huge. The seven boroughs in which the participants lived issued borough-specific forms ? each broadly the same, but with small but important differences and a raft of explanatory material. Schools were generally enthusiastic about the opportunity, but busy headteachers were often difficult to get hold of. After-school doctors? appointments were at a premium, and an admin charge of up to £40 was levied on the doctor?s note ? representing a potential hidden cost of over £2,500 for the whole company of young people and a major disincentive to families on a low income.
Safety first
Licensing aims to ensure that the child?s education and physical safety is not compromised by performing, a small part of a wider governmental function. As Eileen Lee, Newham?s licensing officer points out, within the Education Welfare service ?the work is quite varied and changes from week to week ? including work permits, chaperone checking and non-school attendance?. Co-ordinating many different people and bits of information is time-consuming, but London boroughs acknowledge that companies often need to turn applications around quickly. Cecil Lovemore, Southwark licensing officer says ?We are signed up to the London Protocol, where all boroughs insist that the licence requires 7 days notice at least. 21 days is the legal requirement, but we want to encourage production teams to apply, so we try to be as flexible as possible?. Requests made with less than 7 days notice will be refused.
The complexity and cost ? both in terms of money and time ? of the licensing procedure is certainly challenging. It also conflicts with London Bubble?s aim of providing access to theatre, and challenging existing models of practice. On ?Cinderella? Andrea Gray, Projects Co-ordinator for London Bubble reflects that ?at the beginning, having to co-ordinate what was signed by whom and when and where seemed to outweigh the reasons behind it, which for a company whose work is participant-oriented is difficult?. The additional costs also compromise the company?s mission, in which full funding is sought for projects to keep them free of charge to participants.
Access
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport?s Business Plan for 2004/05 lists as a strategic priority for 2005-8: ?[To] further enhance access to culture and sport for children and give them the opportunity to develop their talents to the full and enjoy the benefits of participation?. In Summer 2006 London Bubble plans to tour a large-scale outdoor OPT promenade to a number of parks and public spaces across London. Like previous productions, it will aim to offer a unique developmental experience for the local community ? and our ?open to all? policy will attempt to make this available to as many people as possible, not the minimum needed to create the show. The question that arises is how can we, safely and responsibly, make theatre that cultivates people?s skills and abilities without burying them in a mountain of red tape?
Louise Owen is Press & Marketing Officer at London Bubble Theatre Company. t: 020 7232 5969; w: http://www.londonbubble.org.uk