Kristen Abbott Bennett, "Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

About this episode

Kristen Abbott Bennett discusses her book on teaching Shakespeare's exploration of identity and justice through the metaphor of the 'theatre of the world'.

Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2025) engages with one of Shakespeare's greatest thought-experiments: How does one navigate the 'theatre of the world'? It invites students to examine how Shakespeare challenges this metaphor's vertical hierarchies in response to shifting understandings of cosmological order. Teachers will find rich contextual frameworks for exploring how Shakespeare envisions 'worlds' as emerging from dynamic variables, raising urgent questions about how identity and justice are environmentally constructed. Focal plays include A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Hamlet, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello. Each discussion features student centered 'Explorations'. These play-specific classroom activities can also be adapted across Shakespeare's corpus and tailored for both secondary and university-level students. These exercises encourage non-linear critical and creative thinking, inviting students to contemplate big ideas and generate new perspectives about the shared points of contact between Shakespeare's world and their own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show…

People in this episode

Guest: Kristen Abbott Bennett

Topics covered

• Shakespeare
• theatre
• education
• identity
• justice
• cosmology

Keywords

• Shakespeare
• theatre of the world
• education
• identity
• justice
• cosmological order
• classroom activities

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cambridge University Press

Books & works: A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Hamlet, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, Othello

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