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At his heart, Shakespeare was a YA author. So many of his plays are set with high school-aged characters. He understood the passion, the confusion and drama that marks that life stage.

Shakespeare fascinated me. He hardly ever left the country. His imagination was worldwide though reading.

I think Shakespeare had a lot to contribute with his understanding of the human condition.

I studied Shakespeare all through high school. Both of my parents teach English and history, so it has always been around my experience as a young man.

I fell in love with Shakespeare when I was 12, and I read the whole works. Yes, I was precocious.

I have grown up loving Shakespeare.

I loved reading when I was young. I was just completely taken by stories. And I remember taking that into English literature at school and taking that into Shakespeare and finding that opened up a whole world of self-expression to me that I didn't have access to previously.

After a few drinks, my mom would recite her lines as Portia in 'The Merchant of Venice' from her high school play. But I first discovered Shakespeare properly when I was about five. I used to look for the most complicated books I could find and pretend to be reading them. I wanted people to think I was smart.

Particularly for English people, Shakespeare is always at the forefront of both drama and the English language. He's always been there. I can't remember starting school and not learning about him.

Anything one can do to provoke and inspire an interest in the works of Shakespeare in a young audience is fair game. Anything.