About Teacher CPD: Hamlet in context
Get new inspiration, practical tips and resources for teaching Hamlet at Key Stage 4–5, drawing on the Library’s Discovering Literature collection.
Join Professor Emma Smith, and teacher and author Michael Donkor for a lively discussion of theatricality and performance in the play. They'll offer close analysis, critical views and contextual insights, using vivid sources from the 'Bad' quarto to Holbein's Danse Macabre.
This is part of our free mini-series of Shakespeare CPD events with Professor Smith and Michael Donkor. Find out more about our session on The Tempest.
What to expect?
- Michael Donkor will host the event, and introduce a brand new teacher's resource pack full of fresh ideas for approaching the play using primary sources with students
- Professor Emma Smith will explore the themes of theatricality and performance, looking at the play within the play, soliloquy, mourning and madness
- Michael will delve into the role of Horatio
- there will be time for the speakers to respond to some of your questions
- following the event, delegates will receive a digital resource pack, full of teaching activities, expert articles and vivid sources to strengthen students' understanding of Hamlet in its social and cultural context.
If you have any queries, please email discovering.literature@bl.uk
Michael Donkor
Michael has 15 years of teaching experience, and has worked at a range of institutions including Esher College and St Paul’s Girls’ School, Hammersmith.
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Michael Donkor studied English at Oxford, and then undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and a PGCE at the Institute of Education.
He is a novelist too: His debut Hold (4th Estate) was published in 2018, he was longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize, shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and selected by Scottish poet laureate Jackie Kay as one of the ten best writers in the UK. His second novel, Grow Where They Fall, was published by Penguin in 2024. He also reviews books for The Guardian, Independent, Times and TLS.
Emma Smith
Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford.
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Professor Emma Smith explores the reception of Shakespeare in performance, print and criticism, and her book This Is Shakespeare (2019) was a Sunday Times Best Seller.
She has worked with theatre companies including at the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and Donmar Warehouse, and is a regular speaker in schools, literary festivals, theatres, libraries and book groups, as well as universities. She has contributed to radio and TV programmes and written extensively for newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Observer and The Guardian.
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