William Shakespeare (26 April 1564�23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as England�s national poet and the �Bard of Avon� and the world�s pre-eminent dramatist. No writer�s living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries for a small repertory theatre, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before.
