Participants and faculty spent one week on each of the plays, reading the texts closely, examining primary sources to reconstruct historical and cultural contexts, exploring filmed versions and performance histories of the plays, and acting out crucial scenes to explore their expressive possibilities.
Marriage and the inheritance of property and power are central issues in all these works, with fathers and kings facing challenges from social interlopers and villainous usurpers. These plays offer opportunities to consider the misogyny as it seems to drive the taming plot of Shrew, the more complexly motivated mischief of Much Ado, the ruthless elimination of all rivals in Richard III, and the terrifying rage of the betrayed king in Lear.
Though we addressed each work on its own terms, we also attempted to bring together the contextual materials that help to illuminate them and to highlight some social transactions that may make them more relevant to students.
