As part of their English class, during their project “Shakespeare is Not Dead”, our year 11 students had to write a press article about the timelessness of the English poet.

Discover one the best production written by Faith Tan (2nd B):

Shakespeare is not Dead yet.

“Shakespeare is undeniably the most famous playwright of all time. Despite having passed away over 400 years ago, his work continues to live on. Across the globe, his plays are still translated and staged and his poems still studied. In our world brimming with clueless, oblivious yet ambitious people, Shakespeare’s plays have provided an ever-lasting source of inspiration. To this day, he is still widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and is celebrated as one of the most proficient and adept playwrights.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon in central England, he was baptised in 1564. Much of his life was undocumented, ergo, we can only guess that he was also educated in the Stratford local Grammar School. There is no record of him until his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582.

After having 3 children with his wife, Shakespeare goes off the grid for 7 years, without any documented record of him. This mysterious short span of time in which Shakespeare has left no trace of have come to be known as his infamous “lost years”.

In 1592, Shakespeare received criticism from another playwright, this moment is the first documented moment following his “lost years”. Shakespeare’s plays were exclusively performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s company, later known as The King’s Men, of which he himself was one of the actors.

In 1599, the company built a new theatre on the south banks of the river Thames in London, called the Globe. This theatre brought him not only fame but also wealth. His name started appearing on the front pages of newspapers, his plays started attracting more and more people – resembling moths drawn to a flame, business was flourishing. The Globe was the starting point of Shakespeare’s success.

He passed away in 1616 with his life’s work to be proud of- he had written 38 plays, 154 sonnets and a few other poems.

Shakespeare’s plays have not only majorly impacted us culturally but economically. For instance, reporter Satnam Rana informs us that £635 million has been spent as a result of tourism. His legacy attracts about 10 million people a year to small towns like Stratford and Warwick, where he spent most of his days, thus furnishing people with employment and substantial financial stability.

Organisations like Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust employ about 270 people. Not only tourist attractions benefit from the immense groups of people Shakespeare continues to allure, but the locals as well. In Shakespeare’s England, 11 150 jobs are directly and indirectly supported by tourism.

To conclude, Shakespeare is indubitably, to put it patently, the greatest playwright of all time. His work continues to change our lives, culturally as well as economically. His plays are spoken of with the utmost admiration, his creativity praised and looked upon with stupefaction, his poems worshipped by intellectuals and scholars.”