Publications

Jennifer and Tracy have published widely on creativity, theatre and Shakespeare in education. Find a selection of their work below

Teaching and Learning Shakespeare Through Theatre-Based Practice

Tracy Irish

Jennifer Kitchen

Arden Shakespeare, 2024

How can the study of Shakespeare contribute to equipping young people for the challenges of an uncertain future? In this book, we explore the theory, practice and implications of teaching Shakespeare through theatre-based techniques.

Drawing our research and experience with organizations including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe, the Folger and Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation, Part One consolidates recent developments in the field and engages in lively dialogue with core questions of Shakespeare's place in the classroom. Part Two curates a series of interviews with leaders and practitioners from the above and other Shakespeare institutions, exploring their core principles and practices. Part Three presents chapters from and about classroom teachers, who share their experiences of successfully embedding theatre-based approaches to Shakespeare in their own diverse contexts.

Tracy Irish

Forthcoming in 2025 An Introduction to the Gonsalves Method: Meisner inspired practice for today’s theatre makers. Co-authored with A. Gonsalves. London: Methuen Drama

2023, ’Signing Shakespeare’, co-authored with A. Rokison-Woodall in Shakespeare and Social Engagement, R. Mackenzie and R. Shaughnessy (eds), Oxford: Berghahn.

2023 ’Teaching Shakespeare in Oman: exploring shared humanity and cultural difference through Shakespeare’s texts’ in Reimagining Shakespeare Education. Eds. L. Semler, J. Manuel and C. Hansen. Cambridge University Press

2021 Shakespeare and Meisner: A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers. Co-authored with A. Gonsalves. Arden Performance Series, Bloomsbury

2019 ’Theatre, education, and embodied cognition: young women in the changing world’ in Palgrave History of Women on Stage. Eds. J. Sewell and C. Smout. Palgrave MacMillan

2015 - 2018 RSC School Shakespeare (edits for six titles and page by page activities for Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest), Oxford University Press

2015 ‘Performing Shakespeare in the Olympic Year: Interviews with three practitioners’. In Shakespeare on the Global Stage: Performance and Festivity in the Olympic Year. Eds. P. Prescott and E. Sullivan. Bloomsbury

2011 ‘Would you risk it for Shakespeare? A case study of using active approaches in the English classroom’. English in Education, 45, 6-19

Talks and presentations include:

• 2024 ‘Why Shakespeare for Primary?’ PTI Headteachers conference
• 2022. ’Shakespeare and nuance’, University of the Philippines conference, online
• 2021 ‘Shakespeare and Meisner’, BritGrad conference plenary, Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon
• 2021 ‘Signing Shakespeare’, Hay Festival online
• 2021 'Thy very stones prate of our whereabout: Shakespeare, caves and climate change’ at Shakespeare’s Globe conference, online
• 2019. ’Shakespeare and young people: developing a culture of links’. BritGrad conference plenary, Stratford-upon-Avon
• 2016. ‘The value of performance pedagogy in teaching Shakespeare’. British Shakespeare Association conference, Hull
• 2016. ‘The pedagogy of theatre-based practice’. Teaching Shakespeare conference, Brighton
• 2015 ‘Policy and Practice: the implications and paradoxes of nationally mandated Shakespeare’. National Council of Teachers of English conference, New York

Jennifer Kitchen

Forthcoming 2025 ‘Restorying Play in Educational Drama and Theatre’ in Research in Drama Education Special Edition - RiDE 2056: The Futures of Drama Education And Applied Theatre And Performance

Forthcoming 2024 ‘“Shakespeare on your doorstep”: opportunities for inclusion and participation in the educational and community work of the Shakespeare North Playhouse’ in The Shakespeare North Playhouse: Replica Theatres and their Uses London: Routledge eds. Keenan, Timothy

2023 Critical Pedagogy in Active Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

2022 with Rachel Turner-King ‘‘IDIERI: Critical reflections, messy boundaries, complex futures’ in Applied Theatre 10:1, 7-19

2022 ‘Shakespeare Youth Performance Festivals as Spaces for Postcolonial Restorying’ in The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Young People eds. Busby, Selina, Freebody, Kelly and Rajendran, Charlene

2021 ‘Theatre Education and Populism: the ensemble ‘family’ as a space for dialogic empathy, civic care and social hope’ in British Educational Research Journal 47:2, 372-388

2020 ‘Oh Brave New World: Play, Shakespeare and pro-social pedagogy in Early Years’ education.’ In Drama Magazine London: National Drama

2020 ‘Critical Pedagogy and Active Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare’ in Teaching Shakespeare: Policy Pedagogy Practice York: British Shakespeare Association

2020 ‘Radical acceptance, “decolonial listening” and cultural democracy: What can the arts in education teach us about social justice?’ In British Educational Research Association Blog

2018 'Playfulness in performative approaches to teaching Shakespeare' in The Arts in Language Teaching. International Perspectives: Performative – Aesthetic – Transversal LIT Verlag: Berlin eds. Mentz, Oliver and Fleiner, Michael

2015 ‘The ensemble domesticated: Mapping issues of autonomy and power in performing arts projects in schools’ in Power and Education 7:1, 90-105

2015 'Play isn't just for primary school kids - it's got an image problem' in The Conversation

2014 ‘Shakespeare plays key role in teaching children to take creative leaps’ in The Conversation

Talks and Presentations include:

2023 ‘Teaching and Learning Shakespeare Through Theatre-Based Practice’ – Blended online/in-person roundtable, British Shakespeare Association Conference, Liverpool
2022 ‘Critical Pedagogy and Active Shakespeare’ Invited Panel – New Scholars, International Drama in Education Research Institution Conference Warwick
2021 ‘Reimagining Education’ Invited Panel, TEALFest – Technology Enhanced Active Learning Festival, Warwick
2019 ‘Ensemble pedagogy, playfulness and the creation of ‘third spaces’ in education’, Collaboration, Creativity and Complexities: Developing networks and practices of co-production with children and young people, Manchester
2018 Workshop presentation ‘The Power of Play: Ensemble pedagogy, playfulness and the creation of ‘third spaces’ in education’ Hellenic Theatre/Drama Education Network International Conference Athens
2017 ‘Playful Shakespeare: can a focus on playfulness help deepen understanding of ensemble pedagogy as an approach to teaching Shakespeare?’, British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Brighton