In this episode, co-host Liam Lockhart-Rush takes us back to school to learn about Shakespeare’s  dominance in Canadian educational institutions. Before that, we hear how many people were first introduced to Shakespeare. Some interviewees share positive experiences with parents and teachers, and others share negative experiences, detailing how what they were taught about Shakespeare was difficult, careless, and potentially harmful. Whether good or bad, it is certain that Shakespeare’s impression as a god-like literary figure was not lost on anyone. Later in the episode, educators and students critique Shakespeare's role in education and offer ideas for how Shakespeare can be taught to students in an inclusive and robust way.

This episode features conversations with Nassim Abu Sarari, Cole Alvis, Rachel Arnold, Roberta Barker, Dawn Jani Birley, Adelaide Dolha, Miriam Fernandes, Duncan Gibson-Lockhart, Jeff Ho, Christine Horne, Stephen Johnson, Erin Kelly, Ziyana Kotadia, Peter Kuling, Anita La Selva, Jani Lauzon, Keira Loughran, Yvette Nolan, Laurel Paetz, Peter Parolin, Elizabeth Pentland, PJ Prudat, Jamie Robinson, Alix Sideris, Sara Topham, and Jeff Yung.

Episode 2 ASL translation courtesy of Dawn Jani Birley. Interpretation by Dawn Jani Birley, Robert Haughton, Sage Lovell, and Alice Lo.

Here are links to things mentioned in the episode and some suggestions for further reading:

Hamlet (1996) directed by Kenneth Branagh

Program for Centaur Theatre’s Antony and Cleopatra (1996)

Shakespeare & Company

“The Astor Place riot: Shakespeare as a flashpoint for class conflict in 1849” from the Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakedown Shakespeare by Yvette Nolan

“TDSB makes Indigenous authors course mandatory for Grade 11 English credit” by CBC News

⁠Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)⁠ by Ann-Marie MacDonald

““I’ve had friends say Shakespeare is irrelevant”: Meet the Grade 12 student who changed the TDSB’s English curriculum” by Mathew Silver for Toronto Life

Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears