Regarded as one of the greatest English writers of all time, William Shakespeare worked as both actor and playwright. He is known for a series of comedies, tragedies and history plays performed on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, including a Midsummer Nights Dream, King Lear and Macbeth. Scenes and characters from these plays have been depicted by numerous artists in the 400 years since they were first written, and are performed on stage to this day, remaining as lasting and influential literary works.