ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the representations of masculinity, girlhood and LGBTQ+ identities in the Australian adaptations. In this chapter, the body as a space upon which Shakespearean characters are cast is examined as a performative site for gender. The examination exposes the tensions adaptations for children and Young Adults face as they are written for contemporary audiences who are in their formative years of socialisation and identification. By comparing the adaptations that are written within the world of the original Shakespearean plays with those set in contemporary adolescent worlds, the chapter focuses on how authors negotiate traditional ideas about gender as they rewrite Shakespearean characters. Questions about the socialisation of gender norms and the possibilities for diversity and inclusivity emerge. The chapter also engages with the problems associated with reading contemporary ideas of gender onto Shakespearean characterisations.
