Acting of Youth

[KP2]

As a club we have a strong youth group and always place the emphasis on acting and characterisation. This allows our youth to make the move smoothly into the adult section.We are regulars at festivals, however at youth festivals I frequently feel that the acting of the youth on stage is considered a secondary issue to what their adult producers, set builders, lighting and sound people do for them. I feel very strongly that adjudicators should be paying more attention as to how well the youth members are acting and 'being their character'. Sometimes the adjudicator gives the impression that they don't expect the youth cast to 'act'. Youth members don't like to be treated as though they are different than the adults just because they are youth( we have had frequent discussions with our youth about this as they pick up on the tone or words used for them compared to the adults).
Also youth festivals often result in very bland adjudications where there is very little said because it might 'upset the children if you criticise them'. Again youth members know when this is happening and don't appreciate it. I'm not suggesting that teams are 'torn to shreds' in the adjudications and obviously age needs to be taken into consideration but part of entering the festival is as a learning tool and therefore they should be told what they do well and how it could be made better. You can be constructive without being cruel. If we want the standard of our festivals to improve then we have got to help the actors to get better.
Any thoughts?