Espinosa, Ruben. "Student approaches to adaptations of Shakespeare." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/student-adaptations-shakespeare. [Date accessed].
Student approaches to adaptations of Shakespeare
Students use Shakespeare to interrogate contemporary social justice issues.
In this assignment, Ruben Espinosa offers a creative entry point for students to engage with Shakespeare. Students produce a short film that must touch on a national or local social justice issue using dialogue from one of the plays they’ve studied in class. By focusing these adaptations on students’ interests and communities, students are given the opportunity to question who is allowed access to Shakespeare and consider how these plays are often weaponized against marginalized populations.
Foul and Fair - an example student production
La Muerte de Ofelia - an example student production
Further learning
Henry V and belonging
Shakespeare's language and status in the Western canon can feel inhospitable to many students, especially students of color. Teaching Henry V with a focus on linguistic identity, legitimacy, and belonging can open conversations that allow students to carve out a Shakespeare for themselves.
Recommended
Othello and Othello and Othello
Beginning with the play’s earliest performance, we study Othello from various critical perspectives through close analysis of the play-text and adaptations on film and stage. For several weeks students read the text of the play slowly and closely, paying particular attention to Shakespeare’s use of language, metaphor, genre, and dramatic form.
Sexualization of Islam in Turk plays
“Turk plays” used race, religion, and sexuality to construct and enforce difference portraying Muslims, Jews, and Black people as sexually deviant or unnatural. Studying these texts reveals how early modern depictions of sexuality and race intersected.
