Shakespeare and Violence Prevention, A Practical Handbook for Educators
Amanda Giguere
University of Wyoming Press
ISBN: 978- 1-64642-722-2 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978- 1-64642- 723-9 (paperback)
ISBN: 978- 1-64642-724-6 (ebook)
278 pages
DOI: 10.64741/919139qoamqh
Review author: Kate Bessey
The title Shakespeare and Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators leaves little to the imagination.This book states clearly its central theme, genre and audience as if it had little time to waste. And there is no time to waste. A quick glance at headlines from around the world is more than enough to defend the urgency and necessity of a book of this sort. The handbook shares the model developed by the Shakespeare and Violence Prevention program, the result of a 13-year collaboration between the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, both operating out of Colorado University, Boulder. The text makes a compelling case for why the bard is an excellent medium for dispensing the findings of violence prevention research into the lived experience of young people and thoroughly explains how this has been achieved with over 136,000 youth.
The bulk of the book is divided into two major sections: workshops focusing on the tragedies and workshops focusing on the comedies, suggesting that the tragedies are better for older students and the comedies for middle grades and middle school.
The author suggests certain plays for addressing particular types of violence. For example, the Twelfth Night workshop homes in on cyberbullying and school bullying, while Romeo and Juliet is suggested for addressing suicide and community violence. The suggested aim of each play is stated in the subheading of each chapter. All chapters, whether tragedy or comedy, are structured in the same way, opening with a brief description of the play’s history and its central themes. This is followed by an explanation of why the play in question is a good fit for exploring a particular type of violence. A synopsis of the plot of each play is then provided. This is followed by, and details how, the specific play connects to violence prevention research, by using a violence prevention lens. This lens takes the reader through the core findings of violence prevention research and points out examples of each idea in action, in the play, guiding which sections of the play a facilitator/educator should focus on and why for violence prevention purposes. The tenets of violence prevention research highlighted in each chapter are: Root Causes (referred to as ‘upstream violence’), Risk Factors, Protective Factors, How to read the ‘Climate’ of a situation focusing on Targeted Violence, Power and Violence, and Language and finally the role of Upstanders in violence prevention.
In the appendix for each play, more detailed, partially scripted examples of workshop facilitation and recommended conventions and activities for unpacking each play and rehearsing violence prevention behaviors are provided. Like the chapters, each appendix is structured in a similar way, offering Post Show Discussion Questions, An Upstander Role Play Lesson Plan, and at least 3 additional prompts to guide discussion, viewing, and writing about the play and to explore the violence in the play in an embodied yet safe and distanced way. This consistency and repetition in structure is useful. After exploring a few chapters and their appendices, the reader gains confidence in how this system works. A practitioner could follow the suggested activities as provided, or branch out on their own, using the model to guide new, bespoke activities and prompts, depending on their level of experience.
The author encourages dipping in and out of the book, and to focus on the texts which best serve each educator’s needs. However, the introduction, conclusion, list of references and epilogue in particular should not go overlooked. The case study detailed in the epilogue of how the Shakespeare and Violence Prevention Program troupe handled the staging of The Merchant of Venice in an era of re-burgeoning antisemitism shares an excellent convention not described in any of the other chapters, and also offers some verbiage which many teaching artists might find very useful for defending drama work which dips into controversial and sensitive areas.
What this book does well is: 1) outline key findings and terminology of violence prevention research for the reader and 2) share a well-practiced system for using Shakespeare’s plays to translate this knowledge to students in an embodied way. This method creates a safe and distanced fictional space for students to rehearse identifying and responding to situations of violence based on the knowledge of violence prevention research. This text generously shares an exemplary case study of how theatre arts practice can effectively partner with research from another area to spread knowledge and increase positive action in response to a public health crisis.
To offer a balanced review, potential issues with the book and concerns with its application, as it is a handbook, must be mentioned. The main issue and potential hiccup for an educator applying this handbook lies in the lack of support it offers the reader regarding the live performance component of the model. The author states in the introduction,
The book is rooted in this question: How can live, performance-based approaches to Shakespeare’s plays reinforce violence prevention skills in school-aged children?
The practical components of the handbook, however, offer guidance for what happens after a performance. The user of the handbook is on their own regarding the production of a performance on which to base a workshop. I was hoping to find scripts of the cut versions of the plays used in this program or links to high quality recordings of the live performances which are lovingly described throughout the book. These are not provided.
There is also a tension in the book as to exactly how necessary the live performances are. At times the author describes them as key to the success of the program, noting the way audiences leaned in closer when actors switched between languages, how music was employed and how actors deftly and captivatingly shifted between characters. The author states that live performance will reach and motivate students to engage with violence prevention teaching more than traditional methods, like a PowerPoint presentation. I think it’s safe to say teaching artists and most educators would agree. Felt understanding and aesthetic arrest are achieved by great performances and make participants more willing to engage in deep discussions and experiment with embodied forms of learning after the fact.
Then, as if to assuage practitioner’s concerns along these lines, the author claims great acting or access to professional performances aren’t necessary to carry out the activities proposed in the book. (Boal’s forum theatre approach of freezing action, entering a scenario, and rehearsing alternatives is used, alongside other prompts, for each play workshop.) Although performance may not be necessary, isn’t it highly recommended? Isn’t it preferred? Without the live performance of an expertly crafted cut version of the plays suggested in the book, by highly skilled performers, is it still worthwhile to pursue workshops? The author encourages us to try. Perhaps the author hopes the ubiquity of Shakespeare will fill this gap. Educators using this handbook should know they will have to find a live performance or create one of their own.
Although explicit advice for how to cut a play is not provided, the handbook does make a point to match aspects of the plays specifically and Shakespeare’s body of work generally with core ideas of violence prevention. This highlighting of certain elements and parts of the plays could be useful for a practitioner seeking to generate their own cut versions. Also, by demonstrating how to use a violence prevention lens by systematically pointing out what to look for in each play, the author provides a replicable model which could be applied by educators from diverse backgrounds and even non-theatrical bodies of knowledge seeking structure for violence prevention approaches. A history teacher looking for innovative and peace-forward ways to address human conflict throughout the ages comes to mind.
Overall, the book does a great job in teaching the basics of violence prevention research and then providing a framework for how to work through the key ideas with young people, with an emphasis on how violence can be prevented if we rehearse how to spot and respond to it. Shakespeare’s plays are examples of violence which are examined. The book does a great job of pointing out the tenets of violence prevention in each play, without needing to be an expert in Shakespeare. This model could potentially be transferred to other texts/narratives in any medium an educator might be more familiar with.
In a perfect world, practitioners wishing to use this handbook would be working alongside a talented, multilingual, musical group of actors, and have access to the Shakespeare Violence Prevention Program’s cut versions of the plays. But, if this were a perfect world, there would be no need for this handbook, and there is, unfortunately, a great need for this handbook, which offers itself as a solid, well organised, well tested model to begin teaching violence awareness and prevention.
