It was after the Second World War and the nationalisations that autonomous theatres for children and youth and theatre performances targeting this age group were first established in Hungary. In my study, I will present the institutional history of children’s and youth theatres in the period 1949–1989/1992 and the children’s and youth theatre-makers who were amateur theatre-makers alongside the institutionalised theatres. I will give an insight into the productions that were produced during this period, the problems faced by the children’s and youth theatre community, and the contradictions that creators had to face during the period of state socialism. I will look at decisions, decrees, and laws on the medium of children’s and youth theatre productions from 1949 to 1989/1992, in order to gain a better understanding of the cultural context in which amateur theatre groups produced performances in the context of children’s and youth theatre culture, alongside the institutionalised children’s and youth theatres.