“Teaching Shaw in the 21st Century: Building a Compendium of Pedagogy”
Justine Zapin will lead the next Studio event on Sunday April 19th at 7pm. GMT, 2 pm EDT 11 am PDT
Topic: ISS Studio Event April 19th 2026
Time: Apr 19, 2026 07:00 PM Dublin
Join Zoom Meeting
https://ucd-ie.zoom.us/j/68446944226?pwd=IpLsOgv6bAIAz7jamaBjPAcUo6sGbX.1
Meeting ID: 684 4694 4226
Passcode: 607422
Do any of us teach Shaw anymore? Do the students like it? Do they even try to engage? Or do they outright reject Shaw? In our last studio, James Armstrong drew our attention to the century’s long list of Shaw-haters. A rousing discussion on the deservedness of Shaw-vitriol followed, with the cohort agreeing that Shaw was a curmudgeonly contrarian who was and continues to be misunderstood. But while we Shaw enthusiasts and Shavian scholars defend the man, our scholarship, and the International Shaw Society’s commitment to “embodying the Shavian spirit of challenge that is a hallmark of free society” in closed circles, our students, our universities, and (what feels like) a majority in the West have moved on; it seems that 21st Academe has called curtains on Bernard Shaw.
Do not despair – and do not prepare to lament the death of Shaw Studies during this event. This studio session is meant forward the conversation. We will identify the shifts in cultural discourse which have contributed to Shaw’s increasingly poor reputation – both inside and out of the Academy. We will recognise how student populations have diversified, acknowledge the subsequent need to provide multiple modes of engagement in the classroom, and discuss how we might adapt our own approaches to university teaching to accommodate these myriad 21st century concerns. Most crucially, in this session we will begin to build a compendium of resources for teaching Shaw in the 21st century. Attendees are asked to consider the following:
1. How were you first taught Shaw? What hooked you?
2. What elements of Shaw’s work do your students respond to most positively?
Which features are most challenging for students?
3. Outside of his myriad (and often unpopular) opinions, what do you find most
difficult about engaging with Shaw?
4. Can you remember your most successful class/rehearsal/activity on Shaw? What made it successful?