111 Shakespeare Monologues for Young Actors
Audition Monologues, Classic Theatre, Shakespeare
* Edited by Lisa Bansavage & L.E. McCullough, Ph.D.
With a special introduction on Shakespearean speech by Jill K. Swanson
* ISBN: 1-57525-356-9
* Retail List Price: $17.00 (check online retailers for other prices)
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FOR YOUNG ACTORS wishing to hone their skills on a master course, this book offers a selection of age-appropriate audition material from one of the greatest monologue writers of all time, William Shakespeare (1564-1616).
The characters who speak herein are either teens or young adults, and for the most part they speak of youthful things that have remained conversational topics and concerns of young people through the centuries: love and romance, pranks and jokes, boasts and demonstrations of physical prowess, and — on the darker side of the psyche — deceit, greed and violence.
Aside from their youth orientation, these 111 monologues were chosen to span a variety of character type and tone, with lengths ranging from 15 seconds to two minutes flat. Twenty-nine of Shakespeare’s 37 plays are represented, offering a full cross-section of the Bard’s canon.
The monologues in this book are organized by gender and then by the genre of the play — Comedy, History, Tragedy. A few monologues are spoken by actors of unspecified gender and may be performed by either women or men. Each monologue also possesses a particular tone — comic, serious or seriocomic (a mixture of serious and comic, as when someone speaks seriously about a humorous subject).
Basic scene setting information has been provided, along with stage directions helpful in setting character action or framing the scene. The introduction by Shakespeare scholar Jill K. Swanson discusses Shakespeare’s prose and verse styles; actress Lisa Bansavage offers tips on auditioning with Shakespeare monologues.
Listing of monologue excerpts with character
All material © 2003 Lisa Bansavage, L.E. McCullough & Jill K. Swanson
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FEMALE MONOLOGUES: Comedies
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Helena
Call you me fair? That fair again unsay.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Helena
How happy some o'er other some can be!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Helena
O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia
Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia
Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse
All’s Well That Ends Well. Helena
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie
All’s Well That Ends Well. Helena
Then, I confess, here on my knee
As You Like It. Phebe
I would not be thy executioner
As You Like It. Phebe
Think not I love him, though I ask for him
As You Like It. Rosalind
And why, I pray you? Who might be your mother
The Comedy of Errors. Adriana
His company must do his minions grace
The Comedy of Errors. Courtezan
Now, out of doubt, Antipholus is mad
The Comedy of Errors. Luciana
And may it be that you have quite forgot
Cymbeline. Imogen
Away, I do condemn mine ears that have
Cymbeline. Imogen
I false! Thy conscience witness: Iachimo
Love's Labour's Lost. Princess
Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean
Love's Labour's Lost. Princess
See, see my beauty will be sav'd by merit
Love's Labour's Lost. Rosaline
Oft have I heard of you, my lord Biron
Love's Labour's Lost. Rosaline
They are worse fools to purchase mocking so.
Measure for Measure. Isabella
O you beast! O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch!
Measure for Measure. Isabella
To whom should I complain? Did I tell this
Much Ado About Nothing. Beatrice
What fire is in mine ears?
Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Marina
I am a maid, my lord, that ne'er before invited eyes
The Merchant of Venice. Portia
The quality of mercy is not strain'd
The Merchant of Venice. Portia
You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand
The Taming of the Shrew. Katharina
Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow
The Taming of the Shrew. Katharina
The more my wrong, the more his spite appears
The Tempest. Miranda
If by your art, my dearest father, you have
The Winter’s Tale. Hermione
Since what I am to say must be but that
The Winter’s Tale. Hermione
Sir, spare your threats
Troilus and Cressida. Cressida
Hard to seem won: but I was won, my lord
Twelfth Night. Olivia
O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
Twelfth Night. Olivia
'What is your parentage?'
Twelfth Night. Viola
I left no ring with her: what means this lady?
Two Gentlemen of Verona. Julia
How many women would do such a message?
Two Gentlemen of Verona. Julia
Nay, would I were so anger'd with the same!
FEMALE MONOLOGUES: Histories
Henry IV Part I. Lady Percy
O, my good lord, why are you thus alone?
Henry IV Part II. Lady Percy
O yet, for God's sake, go not to these wars!
Henry VI Part I. Joan La Pucelle
First, let me tell you whom you have condemn'd
Henry VI Part I. Joan La Pucelle
Look on thy country, look on fertile France
Richard III. Anne
No! why? When he that is my husband now
Richard III. Anne
Set down, set down your honourable load
FEMALE MONOLOGUES: Tragedies
Hamlet. Ophelia
O my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
Hamlet. Ophelia
O what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
Julius Caesar. Portia
Is Brutus sick, and is it physical
King Lear. Cordelia
Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
Othello. Desdemona
My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty
Othello. Desdemona
O good Iago, what shall I do to win my lord again?
Othello. Desdemona
That I did love the Moor to live with him
Romeo and Juliet. Juliet
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds
Romeo and Juliet. Juliet
The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse
Romeo and Juliet. Juliet
Thou know’st the mask of night is on my face
FEMALE/MALE MONOLOGUES: Comedies
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Flute
Asleep, my love?
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck
If we shadows have offended
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck
My mistress with a monster is in love.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck
The King doth keep his revels here to-night
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck
Through the forest have I gone.
The Tempest. Ariel
I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking
MALE MONOLOGUES: Comedies
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Demetrius
My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lysander
You have her father's love, Demetrius
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Quince
If we offend, it is with our good will.
All’s Well That Ends Well. Bertram
Titled goddess; And worth it, with addition!
As You Like It. Jaques
All the world's a stage
As You Like It. Oliver
Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me
As You Like It. Oliver
When last the young Orlando parted from you
As You Like It. Orlando
As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion
As You Like It. Orlando
I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts
As You Like It. Orlando
Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in thee?
Cymbeline. Posthumus
Sleep, thou hast been a grandsire
Love's Labour's Lost. Biron
Thus pour the stars down plagues for perjury.
Love's Labour's Lost. Biron
I can but say their protestation over
Love's Labour's Lost. Biron
Now step I forth to whip hypocrisy.
Love's Labour's Lost. Biron
This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons pease
Love's Labour's Lost. Biron
What, I! I love! I sue! I seek a wife!
Measure for Measure. Claudio
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where
Measure for Measure. Claudio
Thus stands it with me: upon a true contract
Much Ado About Nothing. Benedick
O, she misused me past the endurance of a block!
Much Ado About Nothing. Benedick
This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne.
Much Ado About Nothing. Borachio
Seest thou not, I say, what a deformed thief this fashion is?
Much Ado About Nothing. Borachio
Sweet prince, let me go no farther to mine answer:
The Comedy of Errors. Antipholus of Syracuse
He that commends me to mine own content
The Comedy of Errors. Antipholus of Syracuse
Upon my life, by some device or other
The Comedy of Errors. Dromio of Ephesus
I am an ass, indeed
The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio
O sweet Portia, Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words
The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio
Sweet Portia, If you did know to whom I gave the ring
The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio
Tis not unknown to you, Antonio
The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio
What find I here?
The Merchant of Venice. Lorenzo
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
The Taming of the Shrew. Biondello
Why, Petruchio is coming in a new hat and an old jerkin
The Taming of the Shrew. Petruchio
Thus have I politicly begun my reign
The Winter’s Tale. Florizel
What you do still betters what is done.
Troilus and Cressida. Troilus
O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus
Twelfth Night. Sebastian
This is the air; that is the glorious sun
Two Gentlemen of Verona. Launce
Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping
Two Gentlemen of Verona. Proteus
Even as one heat another heat expels
MALE MONOLOGUES: Histories
Henry IV Part I. Hotspur
My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
Henry IV Part I. Hotspur
Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king
Henry V. Chorus
Now all the youth of England are on fire
Henry V. Chorus
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
Henry V. Henry
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
Henry VI Part II. Young Clifford
Shame and confusion! all is on the rout
Henry VI. Part III. Son
Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
MALE MONOLOGUES: Tragedies
Hamlet. Hamlet
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Hamlet. Hamlet
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Othello. Cassio
Madam, my former suit: I do beseech you
Romeo and Juliet. Benvolio
Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay
Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio
O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
Romeo and Juliet. Romeo
Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still
Romeo and Juliet. Romeo
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
Romeo and Juliet. Romeo
In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
Titus Andronicus. Demetrius
Why makest thou it so strange?
FEMALE/MALE MONOLOGUES: Histories
Henry V. Chorus
Now all the youth of England are on fire
Henry V. Chorus
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend