Teaching and Learning Shakespeare through Theatre-based Practice

Reviews / Votes

This timely, important publication reinforces the continuing significance of Shakespeare in the school and university curriculum. It reminds students and teachers that active, creative and diverse approaches to the plays are rewarding and relevant. * Chris Green, Director of English and Drama, The Perse School, Cambridge, UK * Even as theatre companies scramble for financial footing and beloved plays become contested ground, Irish and Kitchen present a multidisciplinary case for active or embodied Shakespeare teaching. This book provides a dynamic survey of experiential, joyful and community-building theatre work for classrooms that should convince artists and teachers not to cede a curricular inch to standardized testing - or to rely exclusively on written analytic work - and instead to explore, with students, the benefits of social meaning-making with Shakespeare texts. The editors incorporate insights from social science, neuroscience and educational theorists. They profile directors of established and innovative global theatre education programs and highlight the voices of expert practitioners. Weaving together these perspectives, Irish and Kitchen create a compelling argument for theatre-based Shakespeare teaching: fundamentally intercultural and democratic by respecting students' lives, providing academic and socio-emotional learning and encouraging critical questions of culture. * Laura Turchi, Arizona State University, USA * This is a brilliant book and a must read for all artists, educators and researchers with an interest in the teaching of Shakespeare through theatre-based pedagogies. The breadth of its theoretical grounding is remarkable and synthesises beautifully with the diverse accounts of inclusive practice that follow. The passion of the authors, grounded in knowledge and experience, shines through every page, leaving the reader in no doubt about the continuing relevance of Shakespeare to the lives of today's young people and some of the most pressing social and cultural issues of our time. * Joe Winston, University of Warwick, UK *