Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Tuesday, 8 Dec 2026 - 18:00

Shakespeare Now: Creativity and Controversy

A profile shot of a performer with curly light brown hair, heavy stage makeup, and an ornate gold hair clip smiling while gesturing on a dark stage

How Shakespeare is performed in contemporary theatre and film raises sometimes heated questions about representation, politics, and relevance. Should – must? – Richard III be played by an actor with a disability? Do we need to ameliorate, or apologise for, or historicise, attitudes to race or gender in, for example, The Merchant of Venice or Othello? Should Shakespeare speak for us now, or do we owe an obligation to the past world which created these plays?

Professor Emma Smith

Professor Emma Smith

Emma is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford. Her work focuses on Shakespeare, on early modern drama, and on book history. She...

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