Is It Time to Move Shakespeare Off Centre Stage?
7 January - 17 mins
Podcast Series
Newstalk Daily
William Shakespeare is back in the cultural spotlight with the release of the film Hamnet, starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. But while the film renews interest in the playwright’s life and legacy, it also raises an awkward question closer to home: why does Shakespeare still hold such a dominant, compulsory place in Irish schools?
English teacher Conor Murphy joins Shane Beatty on the podcast to argue that while Shakespeare’s brilliance is not in doubt, his privileged position in the curriculum is. Conor suggests that making Shakespeare mandatory crowds out other voices — including Irish writers and dramatists — and reinforces the idea that English literature has a fixed centre with...
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