Education resources

We've formed a partnership with Promethean Planet to create free resources for use on interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Our first flipchart is built around the RSC's 2011 Young Person's Shakespeare production of The Taming of the Shrew directed by Tim Crouch and featuring Madeline Appiah as Katharina and Nikesh Patel as Petruchio:

Flipchart and resources »
(This link will take you to the Promethean Planet website)

Our flipchart contains video extracts from the performance, along with video interviews with the director and actors, and discussion questions on performance, directing and close textual reading, to enhance students' engagement with the play. The additional teachers' guide contains notes to introduce each part of the flipchart and offer context and advice for the discussion questions.

The flipchart is a structured exploration of the development of Kate and Petruchio's relationship, which lies at the heart of the play. It begins at the point where Petruchio hears about Kate and vows to woo her, and proceeds through the battle of wills in the well-known 'sun and moon' scene, to Kate's concluding speech where she declares her subservience to her husband. It then considers their relationship in its broader familial and societal context, comparing it to her sister Bianca's very different marriage to Lucentio. 
The flipchart contains:

• Performance extracts - films
• Exclusive behind-the-scenes rehearsal films and interviews with director and actors
• Discussion questions
• Production images
• Teaching notes
• Downloadable guide to the flipchart (PDF)

More resources

More educational resources are available online in our Resource bank where we've compiled learning materials around key Shakespeare plays, including: production videos and images, activities, synopses and much more.

Find out more about Shakespeare's life, plays and what goes on behind the scenes in Explore. Here you'll find plenty of interviews with directors, designers and actors from our past productions of both Shakepeare's plays and plays by other writers.

Photo above by Hugo Glendinning shows Nikesh Patel as Petruchio in YPS The Taming of the Shrew (2011).