In the history of Great Britain there are a lot of famous names. The name of William Shakespeare is one of them.

William Shakespeare, the great English poet and dramatist, was born in 1564 in the town of Stradford-on-Avon. There were no theatres in England then. Groups of actors travelled from town to town showing performances in the street. Sometimes actors came to Stratford-on-Avon. The boy went to see all their shows and liked them very much. He wanted to became an actor.

Sometimes he wrote little plays and staged them with his friends. When he was twenty one. William went to London. There he joined a group of actors. At first he only helped actors and then began writing plays for them. Soon Shakespeare's plays were staged more and more and became famous.

The theatre where he worked was called "The Globe", it became the first professional theatre.

Everyone knows Shakespeare's plays. The most famous of them are "Othello", "Hamlet", "Romeo and Juliet", "King Lear". Shakespeare showed the real life and attitudes between people. Love and death, friendship and treason, devotion and lie are the main ideas of his plays. Shakespeare's works will always be interesting for all people.