It’s National Shakespeare Week!

To read, or not to read? 

…It’s ‘to read’, obviously – we’re under no illusions that the Bard’s works are incredibly important when it comes to developing literacy, and there is that one play where somebody ends up with a donkey’s head that’s always made us chuckle. And later this month, National Shakespeare Week have got a huge programme of events to get involved with that are perfect for those just beginning to discover drama as well as those die-hard Shakespeare aficionados who’ve lost sleep over Banquo’s ghost (is he really there? Is he in Macbeth’s head? And why did he keep talking about chickens again?) 

There are all kinds of virtual events to enjoy, from Tudor style bake-alongs to Shakespearean storytimes, poetry events and illustration workshops. It’s the perfect time to get back into Shakespeare if you’ve had some bad experiences with the Bard in the classroom, or even if you’ve never heard of him before – there’s a whole world between the pages, and a lot of entertainment to be had. 

It is, however, a fact that sometimes Shakespeare can be a little difficult to comprehend in its organic form. Language has changed dramatically since the days of the Tudors and the Stuarts, and it might sometimes be a bit of a barrier when you’ve got literacy differences.  

People with dyslexia can struggle with Shakespearean spelling when reading these plays, many of them find the experience of watching a performance actually makes the narrative much easier to understand. Stage adaptations and films can be helpful when you’re struggling to translate an antiquated spelling or saying, so it’s important to take a multi-media approach to learning.  

There are a number of apps and programmes that can help a learner with dyslexia when it comes to Shakespeare, too. Shakespeare in Bits has helpful animated study editions of many plays, which can help learners who prefer to experience these plays visually in a time when many theatres are closed. Rewordify.com is a website that simplifies texts and switches out archaic and complex phraseologies, and has a library of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets with a lot of the literary complexities omitted.  

Cambridge University Press has also released a series of content-rich app versions of some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays that can be explored and customised with visuals, audio and educational commentary – you can find out more about them here.