by Marissa Price

Bringing Shakespeare into the 21st Century is no mean feat. His plays are the ultimate classical texts on par with the greats of the past including Cicero and Plato. His effect on the Western literary canon is phenomenal and enduring. And as a high school teacher with a broad spectrum of students, explaining that William Shakespeare was once a person, just like them, who had a job and did it well helps to humanize him. They love to find out personal information about the world’s most famous playwright. For example, did you know that the only thing Shakespeare left to his wife upon his death was their second-best bed? Not even the best one! Given the historical time in which Shakespeare lived, and the need for him to invest his children with as much property as he could to enrich their marriage chances, this makes sense. How was he to know that his works would go on to become legendary across a span of centuries?

It doesn’t seem to really matter how you approach it—teaching Shakespeare to teenagers can be a daunting proposition. In the age of instant gratification and image-based content sharing and short, snappy social media stories, the kids we teach aren’t necessarily interested in what some guy had to say 400 years ago. Especially when they have to translate it from Old English into their contemporary vernacular. Sure, there are amazing resources like No Fear Shakespeare that bring the stories to life by putting the original text alongside a modernized version, but as in every re-telling or change of genre, you lose a little of the original. There are fractures that take the plot off in a different direction or move the settings of the plays into modern times, a la Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth. Some even change the genre completely, such as Gnomeo and Juliet, an animated movie aimed at kids. They’re interesting, and as someone who writes them, they’re an awful lot of fun. And they can be really, really clever.

Sometimes, however, I think we don’t give students enough credit. We go for the easy option when they really can cope with Shakespeare. They’ve spent the time reading the play (sometimes the original), but often we cater to the student who can’t be bothered, the ones who never intended to read any version of the script, trying desperately to engage them in classical literature in some meaningful way. Of course, there will always be classes where examining the literal text will be a challenge and accessing the vocabulary – and therefore the story – will be an issue. But what about those students who want the challenge, who want to dissect Shakespeare and be immersed in the meaning of his words? Are they missing out?

One of the quickest ways in all school subjects to engage a young person in a text is to show them it has value – street cred, if you will. A big draw of Shakespeare’s works are the zingers he buries in amongst his texts. He invented the insult of “being a dog,” and often wrote one-liners into his plays that produced a snigger from the audience. “Shut up, you egg,” is my personal favorite from Macbeth. Finding and understanding Shakespearean insults has long been a favorite of many an English class, not least because they can get away with maligning each other (and often their teacher) with impunity. It is FUN. Having that text engagement is what teachers want for their students—they might not be able to tell you exactly what happened in Act III, Scene II of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but they can tell you they enjoyed Helena calling Hermia a puppet. That they snickered when Nick Bottom was turned into an ass’s head, and Titania fell in love with his hairy, floppy ears. They laugh at the ridiculous, lament at the tragedies, labor through the histories.

I often think of what it would be like if Shakespeare was alive today. What would he put on his Instagram? Would he have Snapchat? What would he think of Trump, Brexit or global warming? Imagine the sassy one-liners he’d invent for some of the world’s most infamous characters. Once students – or anyone really – have that direction and framework in which to think about Shakespeare, he doesn’t seem so scary anymore. He was just a guy with a lot of plays, taking some political risks and showing his talent. And, he provided literary canon for a lot of us mere mortals to play around with, to evaluate and immerse ourselves in, and to ultimately enjoy.

If you haven’t read Shakespeare since school, or you’re curious about what the Bard is all about, you might be tempted to start with the most well-known play– Romeo and Juliet. Instead, I’d recommend something a little different.  A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a wonderful starting point: as one of the smaller plays, and a comedy at that, MSND is a delightful romp through a mythical Athenian forest, complete with interfering fairies and cursed mortals. The Taming of the Shrew is a fantastic read, especially when considered in light of our modern society and what would be said now about the notion of subduing women to the will of men. Finally, you can’t go past Macbeth for sheer mastery, gorgeous Scottish landscapes, blood, guts, gore, guilt and superstition. Do yourself a favor—grab a copy of a play, cuddle into your favorite reading spot and let the master of storytelling take you away into another world.

Marissa Price is an Australian school teacher who also runs The Literature Factory, which helps Australian children with literacy, reading and writing. The Lit Factory runs tutoring sessions and workshops, as well as publishing several Australian authors including Marissa and Nicole Bonnelli Madeley. Each publication has its own educational value, making them perfect for the Lit Factory imprint.

Marissa’s book series, Into the Abyss, currently has two books available. Vault of Verona and Scourge of Scotland follow the story of Harriet Hunter, a young Tasmanian woman who discovers that she is able to travel back into the stories of the greatest literary giant the world has ever known – Shakespeare. Harriet runs rampant in Verona during the time of Romeo and Juliet, tasked with the job of stopping the ticking time bomb that will be a double suicide. Her story continues in Scotland with Macbeth’s ambition providing the catalyst for a collision that will change the course of history for generations to come. For more information on the Into the Abyss series or The Literature Factory, visit www.theliteraturefactory.com.au.