Introduction; Using this book; The organisation and content of the eight chapters; Developing the use of drama to teach Shakespeare; The teacher's autonomy; Section 1. Active Teaching: 1. Why use active methods to teach the plays? The North Face of Shakespeare; The problem of monumentalism; The teacher repositioned: 'Shakespeare shared'; Starting active work; Drama workshops; The learner and the text at the centre; Active Shakespeare and independent learning; Back to the art of teaching - and student achievement; 2. Practical work and drama workshops; The classroom as stage: activities in conventional teaching sessions; Safety: physical and emotional; Different needs and abilities; Workshop practices; Workshop objectives and the use of warm-ups and preparation exercises; Workshop planning: an example of a language workshop - 'Macbeth's soliloquies'; The origins of the workshop activities in the following chapters; Section 2. Activities for Teaching Shakespeare's Plays: 3. Group formation activities; Group formation; Getting started; 4. Drama games: using games in the Shakespeare workshop; 5. Drama exercises: using drama exercises in the Shakespeare workshop; 6. Shakespeare's language: the aims of language work; Shakespeare's language gives 'the motive and the cue' for action; Discourse and rhetoric as sources of dramatic energy and action; Language ownership and familiarity through workshops; Teaching approaches: listen and speak, active reading, learn and act; 7. Narrative in Shakespeare: harnessing the power of narrative's theatricality; The nature of Shakespeare's narratives; Teaching approaches: Structural approaches, dynamic approaches, investigative approaches; 8. Character in Shakespeare: changing ideas about character in drama; Characters and their speech utterances; Role differentiated from character; Character and setting; Mise en scene; Teaching approaches: personal encounters with roles; Roles in social settings; Roles in action in the narrative; Notes; References; Index.