Exercise 1.

Fill in the gaps with one of the following words:

Dramatist, complex, heritage, staged, storytellers, writing plays, to summarize

William Shakespeare, the great English poet and (1) _____, 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 Stradford-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 (2) ______ 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 (3) ______ for them. Soon Shakespeare's plays were staged more and more and became famous.

Shakespeare had a great ability (4) _______ the wide range of human emotions in beautiful and laconic verses. His literary (5) _______ includes about 37 plays, 154 sonnets and some poems. He coined more than 1700 English words and created a lot of common expressions, which are widely used in modern English.

Shakespeare is often called one of the most remarkable (6) _______ that ever lived. He wrote comedies and tragedies, histories and romances which have become immortal.

He created a lot of great, memorable and (7) _______ characters like Hamlet, Ophelia, Lady Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. Actors love playing Shakespearean characters – these roles are usually really difficult, but very rewarding. The role of Hamlet is often considered to be the top of an actor’s career.