Pima Auditorium | Memorial Union | Arizona State University | November 6, 2025 | 6:00 pm (MST)
Presented by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Join us for an evening with Emma Smith, a renowned professor of Shakespeare Studies at Herford College, University of Oxford. In her lecture, she will review some of the ways that Shakespeare has been found to be a useful or relevant resource at different historical moments. While some periods and places have found particular go-to plays (Troilus and Cressida during the Vietnam War, for instance, or Julius Caesar during the first Trump presidency) Hamlet has seemed to be a perennial.
She writes, “I’ll be rude about Hamlet, and then propose instead an alternative play for the twenty-first century. This play can, I think, speak to our moment, reflect some of our concerns, and use its fictions for good. You’ll have to come to the lecture to find out which play—and see whether you agree.”
Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford. Her research is about the reception of Shakespeare’s works in the theatre, in print, and in criticism – and especially on why we are so invested in particular myths about his life and canon. Her books include Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book(2016) and This Is Shakespeare (2019).
