Emma Smith

Thomas Kyd may have delighted Elizabethan audiences, but he still wasn’t a patch on Shakespeare

14 December 2024 9:00 am

Brian Vickers aims to ‘restore’ Kyd to greatness – but claiming too much on too little evidence does the playwright no favours

Shakespeare sceptics are the new literary heroes

3 June 2023 9:00 am

Determined sceptics will always find reasons to cast doubt on Shakespeare’s authorship, but who cares in the end, Emma Smith wonders

America’s love-hate relationship with Shakespeare

14 March 2020 9:00 am

Emma Smith examines the peculiarly disruptive effect of Shakespeare’s plays on American society over the centuries