1 Creative Commons The Two Gentlemen of Verona Professor Emma Smith gives the last of her 2017 Shakespeare lectures on his early comedy, Two Gentlemen of Verona. Emma Smith 15 Dec 2017

2 Creative Commons Henry VI, Part 2 Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a 2017 lecture on the early history play, Henry VI, Part 2. Emma Smith 09 Nov 2017

3 Creative Commons The Merry Wives of Windsor Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. Emma Smith 25 Oct 2017

5 Creative Commons Cymbeline Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on one of Shakespeare’s later plays, Cymbeline. Emma Smith 25 Oct 2017

7 Emma Smith on Forgetting in the Digital Age Emma Smith talks as part of the "What does it mean to be human in the digital age?" event Emma Smith 26 Jan 2016

12 Creative Commons A Chaste Maid in Cheapside: Thomas Middleton This lecture discusses comedy, fertility, and all those illegitimate children in this play about sex, economics and meat. Emma Smith 27 Oct 2015

13 Creative Commons The Alchemist: Ben Jonson Written in the context of plague in London, The Alchemist’s plot and language are deeply concerned with speed and speculation. Emma Smith 27 Oct 2015

14 Creative Commons Dr Faustus: Christopher Marlowe My lecture on this infernal play discusses Elizabethan religion, the revisions to the play, and whether we should think about James Bond in its final minutes. Emma Smith 26 Oct 2015

15 Creative Commons Timon of Athens Emma Smith finishes her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Timon of Athens. Emma Smith 23 Jun 2015

16 Creative Commons Love's Labour's Lost Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Love's Labour's Lost. Emma Smith 27 May 2015

17 Creative Commons Julius Caesar This lecture on Julius Caesar discusses structure, tone, and politics by focusing on the cameo scene with Cinna the Poet. Emma Smith 18 May 2015

18 Creative Commons Romeo and Juliet This lecture on Romeo and Juliet tackles the issue of the spoiler-chorus, in an already-too-familiar play. This podcast is suitable for school and college students. Emma Smith 05 May 2015

19 Creative Commons Coriolanus This lecture takes up a detail from Shakespeare’s late Roman tragedy Coriolanus to ask about the representation of character, the use of sources and the genre of tragedy. Emma Smith 05 May 2015

22 Creative Commons The Merchant of Venice This lecture on The Merchant of Venice discusses the ways the play's personal relationships are shaped by models of financial transaction, using the casket scenes as a central example. Emma Smith 20 Nov 2012

23 Creative Commons Taming of the Shrew Emma Smith uses evidence of early reception and from more recent productions to discuss the question of whether Katherine is tamed at the end of the play. Emma Smith 09 Nov 2012

24 Creative Commons A Midsummer Night's Dream This lecture on A Midsummer Night's Dream uses modern and early modern understandings of dreams to uncover a play less concerned with marriage and more with sexual desire. Emma Smith 05 Nov 2012

25 Creative Commons Much Ado About Nothing Emma Smith asks why the characters are so quick to believe the self-proclaimed villain Don John, drawing on gender and performance criticism to think about male bonding, the genre of comedy, and the impulses of modern performance. Emma Smith 30 Oct 2012

26 Creative Commons Hamlet The fact that father and son share the same name in Hamlet is used to investigate the play's nostalgia, drawing on biographical criticism and the religious and political history of early modern England. Emma Smith 23 Oct 2012

27 Creative Commons As You Like It Asking 'what happens in As You Like It', this lecture considers the play's dramatic structure and its ambiguous use of pastoral, drawing on performance history, genre theory, and eco-critical approaches. Emma Smith 23 Oct 2012

28 Creative Commons King Lear Showing how generations of critics - and Shakespeare himself - have rewritten the ending of King Lear, this sixteenth Approaching Shakespeare lecture engages with the question of tragedy and why it gives pleasure. Emma Smith 22 Feb 2012

29 Creative Commons King John At the heart of King John is the death of his rival Arthur: this fifteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at the ways history and legitimacy are complicated in this plotline. Emma Smith 10 Feb 2012

30 Creative Commons Pericles, Prince of Tyre Pericles has been on the margins of the Shakespearean canon: this fourteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series shows some of its self-conscious artistry and contemporary popularity. Emma Smith 01 Feb 2012

31 Creative Commons Richard III In this thirteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series the focus is on the inevitability of the ending of Richard III: does the play endorse Richmond's final victory? Emma Smith 25 Jan 2012

32 Creative Commons The Comedy of Errors Lecture 12 in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks how seriously we can take the farcical exploits of Comedy of Errors, drawing out the play's serious concerns with identity and selfhood. Emma Smith 23 Jan 2012

33 Creative Commons Henry IV part 1 Like generations of theatre-goers, this lecture concentrates on the (large) figure of Sir John Falstaff and investigates his role in Henry IV part 1. Lecture 11 in the Approaching Shakespeare series. Emma Smith 16 Nov 2011

34 Creative Commons The Tempest That the character of Prospero is a Shakespearean self-portrait is a common reading of The Tempest: this tenth Approaching Shakespeare lecture asks whether that is a useful reading of the play. Emma Smith 14 Nov 2011

35 Creative Commons Antony and Cleopatra What kind of tragedy is this play, with its two central figures rather than a singular hero? The ninth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series tries to find out. Emma Smith 10 Nov 2011

36 Creative Commons Richard II Lecture eight in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks the question that structures Richard II: does the play suggest Henry Bolingbroke's overthrow of the king was justified? Emma Smith 01 Nov 2011

37 Creative Commons Twelfth Night The seventh Approaching Shakespeare lecture takes a minor character in Twelfth Night - Antonio - and uses his presence to open up questions of sexuality, desire and the nature of romantic comedy. Emma Smith 20 Oct 2011

38 Creative Commons Titus Andronicus Focusing in detail on one particular scene, and on critical responses to it, this sixth Approaching Shakespeare lecture on Titus Andronicus deals with violence, rhetoric, and the nature of dramatic sensationalism. Emma Smith 19 Oct 2011

39 Creative Commons The Winter's Tale How we can make sense of a play that veers from tragedy to comedy and stretches credulity in its conclusion? That's the topic for this fifth Approaching Shakespeare lecture on The Winter's Tale. Emma Smith 09 Nov 2010

40 Creative Commons Macbeth In this fourth Approaching Shakespeare lecture the question is one of agency: who or what makes happen the things that happen in Macbeth? Emma Smith 02 Nov 2010

41 Creative Commons Measure for Measure The third Approaching Shakespeare lecture, on Measure for Measure, focuses on the vexed question of this uncomic comedy's genre. Emma Smith 27 Oct 2010

42 Creative Commons Henry V The second lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at King Henry V, and asks whether his presentation in the play is entirely positive. Emma Smith 20 Oct 2010

43 Creative Commons The Bodleian Shakespeare: A treasure lost... and regained From the 2010 Alumni Weekend. Emma Smith reveals how Oxford University mobilised Alumni support to bring Shakespeare's First Folio back to the Bodleian library over 200 years after it was lost. Emma Smith 19 Oct 2010

44 Creative Commons Othello First in Emma Smith's Approaching Shakespeare lecture series; looking at the central question of race and its significance in the play. Emma Smith 18 Oct 2010

46 Creative Commons The Duchess of Malfi: John Webster In dramatizing a woman's sexual choices in a notably sympathetic manner, this tragedy articulates perennial questions about female autonomy and class distinction. Emma Smith 24 Nov 2009

47 Creative Commons The Roaring Girl: Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker Based on a contemporary scandal of a woman who dressed in male clothing, this play of topsy-turvy genders has fun with some very modern ideas about sexuality, identity and whether we are what we wear. Emma Smith 13 Nov 2009

48 Creative Commons The Revenger's Tragedy: Thomas Middleton A blackly camp tragedy - Hamlet without the narcissism - set in a court corrupted by lust and self-interest, this play is both fascinated and repelled by its own depravity. Emma Smith 06 Nov 2009

49 Creative Commons The Shoemaker's Holiday: Thomas Dekker Like a Busby Berkeley depression-era musical, Dekker's comedy is a feel-good antidote to a context of shortages, political malaise and general pessimism, but real life in the shape of war, class antagonism and civic tensions, always threatens to intrude. Emma Smith 06 Nov 2009

50 Creative Commons Arden of Faversham: Anon A true crime story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife and her lover, this play is concerned with the politics of the household, with gender roles within marriage, and presents a black comedy of botched murder attempts rather like The Ladykillers. Emma Smith 05 Nov 2009