The Royal Shakespeare Company will teach school children about “racism, sexism, and ableism” in the Bard's plays, theatre bosses have said.
The company’s head of education, who will help to devise a package of school teaching material “for the 21st century”, has argued the RSC will “keep Shakespeare relevant” by “exposing” issues in his plays.
Jacqui O’ Hanlon, its director of learning, said: “There is language that is racist, there is racism through the plays, there is sexism through the plays. There is ableism through the plays.”
She added that “the worst thing we can do is deny that that exists”, and suggested that the plays can serve as a “conduit” for talking about contemporary issues, and therefore make the Bard relevant to contemporary audiences.
Speaking at the announcement of the RSC's summer programme, Ms O’Hanlon said: “The way we keep Shakespeare relevant is by exposing the challenges that are in the text, as well as the beauty in the texts.”
Some academics have claimed Shakespeare’s use of language is racist because it equates virtue and beauty with being “fair”, or white, while darkness and blackness have negative connotations.
It has also been claimed by some scholars that the Tempest has “violent colonial implications”, because Prospero arrives at the play’s island setting and suppressing its inhabitants, and the spirit Ariel and the monstrous Caliban.
Still other academics have argued that sexism is an issue in the Bard’s plays, because female characters like Princess Katherine and Lady Anne betrothed to Henry V and Richard III without ever giving consent. Richard’s image as a “deformed” monster has also drawn accusations of ableism.
Ms O’Hanlon has suggested the contentious issues in Shakespeare’s plays could feed into how texts are taught, and offer new ways to engage young people.
The director of learning will be helping to devise a free online curriculum for primary and secondary schools pupils which is set to launch in 2023, as the RSC aims to “influence the teaching of Shakespeare in every secondary school in the country”.
It will be developed collaboratively with teachers and young people, with the RSC stating the need to build a new “consensus” with a new generation of students over the “purpose” of Shakespeare in schools.
Ms O’Hanlon said: “A new Shakespeare curriculum is needed that enables young people and their teachers to explore, test and challenge the relevance of Shakespeare’s work to our lives and world today.
“Our society needs students who can wrestle with complexity, problem solve, interpret, analyse; who can tell the difference between good arguments and bad; who can see and appreciate different points of view.
“We look forward to collaborating with young people, teachers and artists to create a Shakespeare curriculum for the 21st century.”
As part of the raft of announcements from the RSC, a new production of Richard III was unveiled with Arthur Hughes, a disabled actor, in the lead role, along with a staging of All’s Well That Ends Well - “for the social media generation” - which will address issue of “toxic masculinity and consent”.
The RSC’s aim to engage a new generation has also led to a new deal with TikTok, the popular social media platform.
TikTok is to subsidise ￡10 tickets for those aged 14 to 25, with the project aimed especially at state schools pupils and “those living in communities facing structural disadvantage”.
Erica Whyman, the acting artistic director at the RSC, said: “Across ten unforgettable years, our commitments to partnership, to inclusion and justice, and to innovative ways to share our work have deepened and evolved.
“All three are demonstrated in this announcement, and our new collaboration with TikTok perfectly illustrates our determination to entice new audiences.”