Esposito, Lauren. “Performing to Learn: Rethinking Theater Techniques to Interpret, Explore, and Write About Shakespeare’s Plays.” CEA Critic, vol. 78, no. 2, 2016, pp. 183-198.
Summary:
In this article, Esposito argues that using drama as an approach to literary analysis is beneficial in helping students interact with and interpret Shakespeare’s works in ways that isolated reading cannot. She discusses the values of performance-based learning, emphasizing that it allows students to directly engage with a text more deeply, as they need to make decisions about positioning, body language, tone, and other performative elements. This pulls them into the text and engages them with inquiry-based learning; they must ask questions about character’s motivations, how they might deliver their lines, and how different forms of delivery change the interpretation of a particular scene. She uses Desdemona’s death as an example. Does Desdemona die submissively, or does she die fighting for her life? How students interpret and “perform” this scene changes how they interpret Desdemona’s character. Esposito breaks down methods she uses in performance-based lessons to build these kinds of discussions: 1) the Boal method, in which students work as spectators and actors (spect-actors) to collaborate on how scenes might be performed, and 2) Process Drama, which focuses not on the final product or performance, but on the process of discovering the themes of the text by working/performing through it together. She also shares three example exercises that apply these methods. The first is Silent Switch, where students stand in a circle with one student in the middle. Students on the outside nonverbally communicate with others to switch places, and the person in the middle tries to communicate nonverbally to get someone to let them into the outer circle. This has direct connections to Othello, as it can help students begin a conversation on Othello as an outsider in his society, just as the person in the center of the circle is an “outsider.” The second exercise is Composing and Revising Tableaux, where students “freeze” key scenes of a text to highlight and alternate interpretations of body language and positioning. The third exercise is Performing Scenes as Process Work where students perform and deliver lines for specific scenes, using Shakespeare’s dialogue and taking on the full persona of the character they are portraying. Each method, Esposito argues, allows for student engagement and a deeper level of comprehension of the text, as students are able to work directly with the language and the characters themselves.Jenny Jadin
