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the reason why english students come to hate Shakespeare and theatre is often not any fault of their own

there comes a point in most English students life where they must read Shakespeare, and this is a horrible mistake

do we first make young English learners read beowulf? no, we don't, they read things like the very hungry caterpillar and the three little piggies

by thrusting shakespeare upon intermediate-advanced we are doing the same as forcing the new soul to read beowulf

Shakespearian English is another language, one that requires translation into a modern tongue to be easily and clearly understood, a decision few english teachers make

on top of this, you must relearn the skills of reading to read a play

while books are designed to be read, plays are designed to be seen - with their scripts being made for actors to interpret
scripts require much greater amounts of filing in the blanks than books, because that is the nature of acting
the actor must pick up on and convey subtext through actions, as you do not read along to a play
this is a complex skill that is quite different from reading a novel
additionally a play is often read in groups, where ideas are shared and understanding can grow through a group activity
each character interacts with another and you simply cannot fully imagine that interaction without hearing at least one other persons voice, an activity generally discouraged in english classes

by starting with Shakespeare as a learning position for plays, we effectively are starting by reading beowulf or even something as "simple" as the catcher in the rye

if we want people to enjoy plays to their fullest and understand the place they hold, we must start with the metaphorical picture books
show your students a contemporary one act, and then read it's script, then read a simple one act as a group before seeing it shown, etc etc

by pushing students into the deep end like this, it's no wonder they grow to dislike theatre as a whole