List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsSeries PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction: “This Is Real Life: Shakespeare and Social Justice as a Field of Play”, David Ruiter (University of Texas at El Paso)Part One: The Shakespeare and Social Justice Interviews1.1.“Deconstructing Social Hierarchies: Interviews”, Erin CoulehanChris Anthony (Assistant Professor of Acting at DePaul University, Chicago, USA)Erika Whyman (Deputy Artistic Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, UK)Arthur Little (Associate Professor, English, UCLA)Ewan Fernie (Professor at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK, and Director of the 'Everything to Everybody' Project, UK)Farah Karim-Cooper (Professor of Shakespeare Studies at King’s College London, UK, and Head of Higher Education and Research at Shakespeare's Globe, UK)Part Two: The Practice of Shakespeare and Social Justice2.1. “Active Shakespeare: A Social Justice Framework” Ayanna Thompson (Arizona State University) and Laura Turchi (University of Houston, USA)2.2. “Bending Toward Justice: From Shakespeare’s Black Mediterranean to August Wilson’s Black Atlantic”, Peter Erickson (Northwestern University, USA)2.3.“Black Hamlet, Social Justice, and the Minds of Apartheid”, Arthur Little (UCLA, USA)2.4.“Shakespeare and Civil Rights: Rhetorical Universalism”, Jason Demeter (Norfolk State University, USA)2.5.“Shakespeare’s Disabled, Disabled Shakespeare”, Adelle Hulsmeier (University of Sunderland, UK)2.6.“Social Justice in the Academy: Reflecting on Shakespeare’s Royal Women”, Christie Carson (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)Part Three: The Performance of Shakespeare and Social Justice3.1.“William Shakespeare’s Enrique IV, Primera Parte: Common [Battle]Grounds between Medieval England and Mexico’s Present”, Alfredo Modenessi (National University of Mexico) and Paulina Morales (National University of Mexico)3.2. “King Lear and Gender Justice in India”, Preti Taneja (Newcastle University, UK)3.3.“Re-enacting Hamlet in South Africa”, Malcolm Cocks (Shakespeare's Globe, UK)3.4.“‘Shakespeare in Prison’: A South African Social Justice Alternative”, Kevin Quarmby (The College of St. Scholastica)3.5.“Romeo and Juliet with Chinese Characteristics: Questions of Usefulness and Engagement in 21st Century China”, Julie Sanders (Newcastle University) and Li Jun (University of International Business and Economics)3.6.“Social Justice, Social Order and Political Power in NTCC’s Adaptation of Richard III”, Chee Keng Lee (Yale-NUS College)Part Four: The Economies of Shakespeare and Social Justice4.1.“The Empathetic Imagination and the Dream of Equality: Shakespeare’s ‘Poetical Justice’”, Kiernan Ryan (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)4.2.“The Idea of Communism in Shakespeare”, Peter Holbrook (University of Queensland, Australia)4.3.“‘Leftward Ho!’: Shakespeare and Lenin in the Tempest of Class Politics”, Jeffrey Butcher (College of Coastal Georgia)4.4.“The Visible and the Invisible: Shakespeare and the Question of Social Justice in King Lear”, Geraldo de Sousa (University of Kansas, USA)Annotated BibliographyIndex

This progressive and encouraging collection really does assume that Shakespeare’s plays, like the players whom Hamlet welcomes to Elsinore, are ‘the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time’ – of our own times. I hope these essays continue a range of on-going conversations about justice, inclusion, diversity, fairness, and, yes, kindness.

This is a wide-ranging, in-depth guide for those beginning or further developing research in Shakespeare and issues of social justice. It includes unique features, from pioneering chapters by leading international scholars and creative adapters, to an overview of resources and exciting opportunities for new research.

The Arden Shakespeare Handbooks provide researchers and graduate students with both cutting-edge perspectives on perennial questions and authoritative overviews of the history of research.The series comprises single-volume reference works that map the parameters of a discipline or sub-discipline and present the current state of research. Each Handbook offers a systematic and structured range of specially commissioned chapters reflecting on the history, methodologies, current debates and future of a particular field of research. Additional resources, such as a chronology of important milestones that have shaped the field, a glossary of key terms, an annotated bibliography and a list of further resources are included.The topics selected for coverage in the series lie at the heart of the study of Shakespeare today and include: contemporary Shakespeare criticism and theory; Shakespeare and social justice; Shakespeare and textual studies; Shakespeare and contemporary performance ; Shakespeare and adaptation; Shakespeare and early modern drama.Editors have determined the contours of their Handbook with an eye on other titles in the same series. Just as each book provides a systematic grounding for readers, the series as a whole presents an invitation to readers to delve into each volume, to find those connections and points of intersection, and to explore the related fields that ultimately will enrich their own research.