This updated and revised edition of Shakespeare’s Heartbeat offers a step-by-step guide detailing how to demonstrate, play and perform sensory games based on two of Shakespeare’s most popular plays designed for autistic people of all ages.

The original games of heartbeats, eye contact and spatial awareness were created at the Glebe School, Beckenham, with a group of twelve autistic teenagers who met and played with Kelly Hunter once a week over three years, 2002-2005. This second edition brings the book up to date with the additional knowledge Kelly Hunter has gained since then as the founding artistic director of Flute Theatre, the world’s only Shakespearean troupe to focus on the needs of autistic audiences. The book includes the following:

• A new chapter dedicated to performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest with autistic audiences, including Hunter’s adapted, interactive performance texts of both plays.
• A new resource for playing with younger autistic children and their families.
• A new resource for playing with those who require a lower demand approach.
• A new chapter with targets and techniques to understand the autism puzzle more clearly.
• New games based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest which have been created over the last ten years, in addition to the original games detailed in the first edition.

This book provides an indispensable learning tool for theatre practitioners, drama students, applied theatre students, teachers, autistic people and their families.

Kelly Hunter is an award-winning actor, director, and educator. She is the creator of the Hunter Heartbeat Method. Kelly has worked in the theatre for over forty years, acting notably with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the highly acclaimed Vesturport. She founded Flute Theatre in 2014 in order to create original and unique productions of Shakespeare. She has adapted and directed ten productions of Shakespeare for the company, including four unique shows for autistic audiences. In 2019 she was awarded an MBE for her services to theatre and in 2024 she received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham, UK.