In a new Platform Paper published today by Currency House, Sue Giles, the internationally respected producer of theatre for young people, calls for adults to listen to our children and abandon what she sees as outdated barriers to their exploration and risk-taking.

Giles has been Artistic Director of Polyglot Theatre since 2000, leading the internationally renowned Melbourne-based company into new territory with interactive works, community process and inclusion of play in the company’s theatrical offerings for children. She is also Vice-President of ASSITEJ, the international association of theatre for young audiences.

She will be the keynote speaker at tomorrow’s launch of the Platform Paper entitled Young People and the Arts: An agenda for change. Co-hosted by Theatre Network Australia, the launch at the Coopers Malthouse in Melbourne will also include an industry panel discussion and contributions from young people in the sector.

Sue Giles with a young audience at a Polyglot Theatre production called Tangle in 2015. Photograph © Serana Hunt

This is an edited extract from Giles’ Platform Paper:

“What is it that makes a children’s work for theatre? The arguments about this definition are had at every festival in every country, in every rehearsal...