Emma Thompson Talks with Helen Shaw

On October 26, 2025, the actor and writer Emma Thompson joined the staff writer Helen Shaw for a discussion at the 26th annual New Yorker Festival, a weekend of conversations, screenings, performances, and more. The Festival, which is the magazine’s signature event, was held in New York City and brought together leading voices in literature, film, comedy, television, politics, and medicine.

Emma Thompson, O.B.E., is one of the world’s most respected creative talents. She is the only artist to have won Academy Awards for both acting (Best Actress, for “Howards End”) and screenwriting (“Sense and Sensibility”). Her film credits also include “The Remains of the Day” and “In the Name of the Father,” for which she earned Academy Award nominations; “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” for which she earned nominations for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe; and “Nanny McPhee,” among others. This year she will star in two thrillers: “The Dead of Winter,” premièring in September, and “Down Cemetery Road,” premièring in October. Thompson chairs the Helen Bamber Foundation, supports Greenpeace and Elect Her, and serves as a patron of the Food Foundation.

Helen Shaw, The New Yorker’s theatre critic, joined the magazine in 2022. Previously, she was the theatre critic at New York and its culture vertical, Vulture. She has also written about theatre and performance for 4Columns and Time Out New York, and has contributed to the New York Sun, American Theatre, the New York Times Book Review, The Village Voice, Art in America, and Artforum. She received a 2025 Grace Dudley Prize for her contributions to The New Yorker, and was co-awarded the 2017-18 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.