The youth theatre movement as part of actors’ education: a Finnish perspective

Abstract

It is possible to detect a sense of frustration in some higher education acting teachers’ comments regarding the impact of student actors’ prior experience on acting. There is an implicit ideal of starting from tabula rasa with the first year students, without any need for deconstructing the results of former training. The uneducated, open, child-like body has become a powerful paradigm for the so-called neutral body that, in turn, lies at the foundation of modern actor training in the West. However, starting a vocational actor training programme without leaning on something one has learned before is not easy. Also, applicants accepted onto a vocational actor training programme with no prior experience in theatre-making and acting are rare exceptions. How then does the relation between actors’ education and the youth theatre movement unfold, especially regarding the question of tabula rasa? What kind of effects does prior experience on acting in the youth theatres and in drama education have on student actors’ studies in higher education and on their personal growth? Moreover, what aspects do the student actors of today consider important for planning vocational actor training programmes and drama education of tomorrow?

Keywords:

• youth theatre
• drama education
• vocational actor training
• Finland

Notes

^1. Interviews: Helsinki: Theatre Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki; Tampere: School of Communication, Media and Theatre, University of Tampere; unpublished interviews with students, February–April 2014 and April 2015; teachers: Hanno Eskola, unpublished interview with the author, February 2014; Samuli Nordberg, unpublished interview with the author, April 2015; Jukka Ruotsalainen, unpublished interview with the author, February 2014; Malla Kuuranne, email correspondence, April 2014.

^2. The Actor’s Training Programme at the School of Communication, Media and Theatre, University of Tampere, was led by Professor Yrjö-Juhani Renvall until July 2014 and from August 2014 on by Professor Pauliina Hulkko. This is significant because the underlying pedagogical thinking grounding the work in the programme has somewhat changed under the leadership of Professor Hulkko.