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.

1. dramatist
2. staged
3. writing plays
4. to summarize
5. heritage
6. storytellers
7. complex

William Shakespeare, the great English poet and (1) _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 Stradford-on-Avon The boy went to see all their shows and liked them very much. He wanted to become an actor. Sometimes he wrote little plays and (2) __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 (3) __writing plays__ for them. Soon Shakespeare's plays were staged more and more and became famous. Shakespeare had a great ability (4) ___to summarize__ the wide range of human emotions in beautiful and laconic verses. His literary (5) _heritage__ 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) __storytellers___ that ever lived. He wrote comedies and tragedies, histories and romances which have become immortal.
He created a lot of great, memorable and (7) _ complex__ 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.