Pedagogy Oct 2020

Bringing Down the Bard’s House

Allison Machlis Meyer

Abstract

This article examines student experiences of studying Shakespeare’s first tetralogy through viewing and writing about Seattle Shakespeare Company’s 2017 Bring Down the House, a successful two-part adaptation of Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3 directed by Rosa Joshi and the upstart crow collective, a Seattle theater company dedicated to producing classical works with diverse all-female and nonbinary casts for contemporary audiences. Through reflection on students’ responses to the adaptation’s all-female cast, as well as the analytical work they produced for an upper-level course titled Shakespeare: Context and Theory, this article articulates the pedagogical value of students’ experiences of representation in live theater performances of Shakespeare. The author argues for both the ethical imperative of introducing students to radical, inclusively cast productions and the enlivened learning that emerges in the literature classroom from students’ creative and analytical engagements with the diverse voices of modern all-female and cross-gender cast Shakespearean performance.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2020-10-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-8544603
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy gender and writing
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References (7)

  1. Berson Misha . 2017. “‘Bring Down the House’ a Timely Look at Bloody Tra…
  2. Bulman (2008)
    Shakespeare Re-dressed: Cross-Gender Casting in Contemporary Performance
  3. Klett (2009)
    Cross-Gender Shakespeare and English National Identity: Wearing the Codpiece
     ↗
  4. Richards Becs . 2017. “An Excellent New All-Female Take on Shakespeare’s…
  5. Smith Rich . 2017. “Bring Down the House, a Diverse, All-Female Henry VI…
Show all 7 →
  1. Sommerfeld Seth . 2017. “Women Literally Rule in Seattle Shakespeare’s ‘…
  2. Thompson (2016)
    Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centred Approach
     ↗
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