The Drama Lane group has prepared William Shakespeare's biography for us.
In groups, read it and make an activity about it. It can be a vocabulary exercise or an exercise to practise reading, you decide.
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright,
and actor. He was born on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was
a successful local businessman and his mother was the daughter of a landowner.
Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language
and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and nicknamed the Bard
of Avon.
He wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other
verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been
translated into every major living language and are performed more often than
those of any other playwright.
Between 1585 and 1592, he began a
successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing
company called the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's
Men.
Around 1613 he retired to
Stratford-upon-Avon, where he died three years later, on April 23rd.
1616, at the age of 52
He produced most of his known
work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories
and these works remain regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres.
He then wrote tragedies until around 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear
and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In
this last phase he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and
collaborated with other playwrights.
Shakespeare’s plays remain highly
popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in
diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
I'm going to share the activities made by you in my next posts.
Then, leave your comments about Shakespeare's life and work:
What did you know about him before reading his biography?
What have you learnt after reading it?
