William Shakespeare was
born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564. As a boy he attended the local
grammar school. Shakespeare's family were fairly poor, so he was forced
to leave school at an early age to find work. When he was eighteen
William married Anne Hathaway. By the time William was 21
he was the father of three children.
In 1588 Shakespeare disappeared
to London. Rumours at the time suggested
that he had run away from Stratford after being accused of deer-poaching.
If caught, Shakespeare was in danger of being executed.
As a child, Shakespeare
had seen plays performed in Stratford by strolling players.
This had given him the idea
of becoming an actor, and soon after arriving in London he found work
at the Swan Theatre.
As well as acting, Shakespeare
also began to write plays. His first play, Henry
VI, was performed in 1592. In the next eleven years twenty-three
of Shakespeare's plays were performed in London. These included Hamlet,
Romeo and Juliet, The
Merchant of Venice, King Lear,
Macbeth, and Julius
Caesar.
Shakespeare wrote comedies,
tragedies and history plays. He usually directed his own plays, and
in some cases, even acted in them. His plays
were popular with the public. The large audiences that his plays attracted
enabled his theatre group to build a larger theatre called the Globe.
Shakespeare's plays were
also popular with the royal family. Shakespeare's group performed
several of his plays in front of Elizabeth
I . It is believed that Elizabeth suggested the subjects of several
of the plays that he wrote.
James
I also liked Shakespeare's plays. He showed his approval by allowing
Shakespeare's theatre company to call themselves the King's Men.
As the writer of the plays
performed at the Globe, Shakespeare received a share of the theatre's
profits. By 1605 he was rich enough to retire to Stratford where he
died in 1616.
Johannes Witt, The Swan Theatre
(1596)
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