Situated Interpretation: Teaching Shakespeare with Live Performance

Authors

  • Jessica L. Winston Idaho State University

Keywords:

Shakespeare, Dramatic Literature, Performance, Performance Approaches to Teaching

Abstract

Despite the popularity of performance approaches to teaching Shakespeare, teaching and teaching with live theatrical productions of Shakespeare and other drama remains a curiously examined convention in Shakespeare pedagogy and literature pedagogy generally. This article begins to address this gap by presenting an approach to a Shakespeare On Stage course, the type of course where students read multiple plays and then see live performances of them. I present an approach developed around the concept of performances as "situated interpretations"--that is, interpretations of the play mediated by critical and performance traditions as well as current artistic and cultural contexts. I then describe how this theory informs specific elements of course design and lesson planning. Ultimately, this article encourages more discipline-wide discussion of how we teach and teach with live performance, and encourages further dissemination of pedagogical and logistical tips and advice, which can make it easier for more teachers to bring live theatre into their course planning.

Author Biography

Jessica L. Winston, Idaho State University

Jessica Winston is Professor of English at Idaho State University.

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Published

2019-11-16

Issue

Vol. 48 No. 1 (2019): Winter/Spring 2019

Section

Articles

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