Asserting Boundaries and Conflict Resolution with "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" Consent-based Practices and Shakespeare

Abstract

This paper explores an applied theatre workshop using William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for educating university students on techniques to assert boundaries, communicate effectively, and resolve conflict. Choosing to focus on the four major relationships within A Midsummer Night’s Dream provides theatrical scenarios for students to learn about unhealthy desire, miscommunicated feelings, unrequited love, and consenting relationships. Using these predetermined scenes, a barrier is created between students’ potential personal experiences and the work they will do in this workshop to reduce the possibility of retraumatizing participants. By the end of the workshop students are expected to have the confidence and techniques to assert physical and emotional boundaries, and have the language to communicate problems and resolve conflict.