“But mention Shakespeare to the class and you will feel it groan.”

~Toby Thompson

            I cannot remember the exact time or place when I fell in love with Shakespeare. The moment was rather a series of small moments that slowly but surely shaped the way I view the so-called “Bard of Avon.” That view constantly shifts as it encounters new information and insights about Shakespeare and the way his work is perceived. The biggest shift and revelation for me – the one that informs all the work I do now – is that Shakespeare has been hoisted so high up on a pedestal that most young people now have the notion that Shakespeare is only for “smart” or “elite” people – which can cause those who do not identify as part of this group to immediately shut down. Rather than being set up for success, we see students doubting their own abilities because they are told before even encountering the plays that Shakespeare is “complicated.” In The Disappearing Dais, his comprehensive guide to English teaching, Frank Whitehead questions how many of Shakespeare’s plays “really come within the linguistic and emotional range of the young adolescent?” (qtd. in Blocksidge 8). Whitehead’s early twentieth century stance lays the foundation from which stems our current educational Shakespeare tenets. This academic dismissal of a young person’s ability to connect to Shakespeare’s texts reveals the shortcomings of an approach that not only dismisses young people’s capabilities but also venerates the plays’ complexities in ways that hinder connection and comprehension. Add to the mix the increasing dependence on digital technologies and almost three years in a global pandemic and you have the perfect storm. The combination of a foregone conclusion and the circumstantial barriers means many will not even consider Shakespeare because they have been told as much.

The academic insistence on the plays’ complexity, epitomized in Whitehead’s comment, provides the fundamental barrier to Shakespeare for today’s youth. While resources such as No Fear Shakespeare (created by SparkNotes) are intended to be useful tools in the classroom, they in fact create a further divide with their simplification of the plays. These go-to resources for the average adult or teacher immediately bring a caveat into the room: This is meant to be difficult but we have to do it. No Fear Shakespeare advertises itself as a “translation into modern English” but in so doing students are deprived of the opportunity to meet the text and understand it on their own terms (“No Fear Shakespeare”). The very name includes “Fear,” implying that any Shakespeare text always has something to fear. The set up for difficulty – and thereby disconnection – happens before the student even gets to the first line.

On top of this already complicated view, the younger generations of the twenty-first century cope with shorter attention spans and massive changes in how they view language. To clarify, I do not regard shorter attention spans as a negative thing about today’s youth that needs changing. Rather, the digital and cultural shifts of the last two decades have naturally caused a shift in the way younger generations approach everything. Similarly, Millennials approach things differently to the Boomer generation – it is a recurring evolution. Shortened words, phrases, some thoughts even expressed completely through an image or gif are now normal modes of communication. While there is nothing wrong with language adapting – as it has done for centuries – when connecting with an older text there can be an automatic assumption that students will not understand. This intersection is where we can come in as theatre practitioners and offer ways to make these early modern plays not only accessible, but exciting to younger audiences. Producing plays that do not “dumb down” the language of the text necessarily, but rather plays that meet students where they are.

Excerpt from “Bringing Down the Barrier: Directing Strategies for Inclusive, Engaging Shakespeare for Young Audiences” by Katelyn Spurgin