Shakespeare for Young People: Productions, Versions and Adaptations by Abigail Rokison (review)

Just about every young person has struggled at some point with the works of William Shakespeare. What approaches and strategies do authors, artists, and filmmakers implement in order to ensure Shakespeare appeals to young minds and help them understand and learn not to be scared or bored of his work? Abigail Rokison's new book is an overview of the myriad interesting and dynamic ways in which recent texts have attempted to make Shakespeare and his works, understandable, relatable, and entertaining for young people.

Shakespeare for Young People is divided into three sections, 'Shakespeare Productions for Young People', 'Short Shakespeare', and 'Rewriting Shakespeare'. Each section includes chapters on film, stage, and print versions of Shakespeare for young people. The scope of the types of texts covered by Rokison is impressive, with films (both animated and live action), television series, novels, children's literature and picture books, plays (both full-length and cut-down performances), and comic books and graphic novels all analysed in depth.

In the Introduction, Rokison claims that her work is 'concerned less with the teaching of Shakespeare in the classroom' (p. 1). While Shakespeare for Young People analyses how the various texts adapt Shakespeare for young people, there is also a strong pedagogical focus on these adaptations throughout, with questions such as, for example, how can these texts be used to introduce and help teach Shakespeare, and at what age should Shakespeare be introduced to young people? Subsequently, the analysis seems at times overly critical and harsh on popular culture adaptations and their pedagogical worth in the classroom (and beyond).

Rokison, for instance, states that film is no substitute for '[r]eading a play in its entirety' (p. 53). Shakespeare's works were meant to be seen in performance, not read, and I am puzzled as to why Rokison would advocate a practice which young people would find more challenging and (likely) less entertaining, engaging, and relevant. Her statement is also at odds with her strong focus on stage productions of Shakespeare's works, which are favoured in this book. Rokison champions 'irreverent, non-elitist' (p. 110) stage adaptations of Shakespeare's work, yet these same aspects in non-stage adaptations are viewed as 'troubling' (p. 73) in that they interpret the text for young people (surely this is essentially what adaptation is?), and are likened to 'plot synopsis in a theatre production' (p. 79). The examination of the pedagogical worth of these popular culture engagements with Shakespeare such as in film, novels, and illustrated works thus outweighs any analysis into young people's reception and enjoyment of these texts. I refer here specifically to the power that a positive and entertaining early introduction to Shakespeare can have in eliminating both the negative stigma associated with Shakespeare and the subsequent reluctance by young people to tackle his works.

I found Rokison's book most engaging in the examination of stage productions of Shakespeare targeted at young people, offering invaluable audience responses, detailed description, and in-depth analysis of these productions. There is a particular focus on the challenges faced by writers, directors, and performers when deciding what to cut, what to leave in, and why, when adapting Shakespeare's works for the stage. The interviews that follow each chapter on the various stage productions are a fascinating insight into the creative process of adapting Shakespeare for young people. It is a shame that this feature is not present after every chapter, as interviews with others who have tackled adapting Shakespeare for young people such as film director Baz Luhrmann and Australian author of Young Adult books, John Marsden, would have been an exciting addition.

The variety of films, comics, and other works discussed throughout is a highlight, with the inclusion of works from several countries including Australia, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Russia. While Rokison acknowledges that her work is a 'snapshot' (p. 13) of the range of texts for young people...