Shakespeare's first play on the London stage was in 1592, he was slowly but surely climbing his way to fame. A man named Robert Greene was jealous of William Shakespeare and tried to shut him down but never did. In 1599 Shakespeare and his partners built their own theatre on the south bank of the River Thames in Stratford-upon-Avon - the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare's association with the company made him a wealthy man. From then on Shakespeare's career went through the roof, his name appearing everywhere, creating and acting in so many different plays and becoming extremely well known. Throughout his working life he spent time in London and Stratford. Shakespeare was a big success! He was a big success because he used ancient and historical themes and storylines. He also had really good characters that everybody could relate to no matter what time you came from or what country. Although everybody even the Queen loved his plays he would sometimes slyly criticize the monarchy in his plays but got away with it because it wasn't considered treason.
William Shakespeare was born and baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon on the 26th of April 1564. He was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover and Mary Arden who was originally a farmer. He had seven siblings and was the third oldest. It is likely that he had attended the King's New School in Stratford.
William Shakespeare married a 28 year old woman named Anne Hathaway when he was 18 on the 27th of November 1582. Six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna who was baptised on the 26th of May 1583. About two years later Anne gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith, however Hamnet died at the age of 11 of an unknown cause and was buried on the 11th of August 1596.
Shakespeare's family, William Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway, Susanna Shakespeare, Hamnet Shakespeare & Judith Shakespeare (Source)
After a long career as an actor and playwright and director, it got harder and harder for William Shakespeare to put on plays because the bubonic plague kept having outbreaks. They had to keep closing the plays for periods of time, this went on for a total of 60 months. Between the years of 1611 and 1614 Shakespeare continued to visit London, for a while he stayed with his son-in-law, Jack Hall. Shakespeare wrote fewer and fewer plays until eventually, sadly he died on the 23rd of April 1616 at the age of 52.