60 SHAKESPEARE SCENES FOR YOUNG ACTORS
Audition Scenes, Classic Theatre, Shakespeare
* Edited by Lisa Bansavage, L.E. McCullough, Ph.D. & Jill K. Swanson
* ISBN: 1-57525-356-3
* Retail List Price: $17.00 (check online retailers for other prices)
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You can’t beat a Shakespeare scene for tuning up your acting chops.
The 60 scenes in this collection offer a methodic skeleton key by which young actors may unlock a wide-ranging storehouse of emotion, technique and interpretive skills.
This collection of scenes is intended to give the student or newcomer to Shakespeare a chance to explore some of the well-known younger characters in his plays. Scenes from 27 Shakespeare plays are represented, offering a cross-section of comedy, tragedy, history and some of the most compelling scenes ever written.
Organized into Scenes with 2 Characters, Scenes with 3 Characters, Scenes with 4 Characters, Scenes with 5+ Characters, this book is suitable for any class size and configuration. Introduction features discussion of rhetorical elements, imagery, themes, verse and prose styles, subplots and tips on playing Shakespearean characters.
These scenes were also chosen with regard to similar themes and situations that will encourage you to compare Shakespeare’s characters.
Use this book to expand your interpretive skills and discover new things about yourself as an actor — and as a person!
Contents & Listing of Scene Excerpts
All material © 2003 Lisa Bansavage, L.E. McCullough & Jill K. Swanson
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Scenes with 2 Characters
• 1 Male - 1 Female
All’s Well That Ends Well — Act 4, Scene 2
Antony and Cleopatra — Act 1, Scene 3
As You Like It — Act 3, Scene 2
Hamlet — Act 3, Scene 1
Henry IV, Part I — Act 2, Scene 3
Measure for Measure — Act 3, Scene 1
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 1, Scene 1
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 4, Scene 1
Othello — Act 4, Scene 2
Richard III — Act 1, Scene 2
Romeo and Juliet — Act 1, Scene 5
Romeo and Juliet — Act 2, Scene 2
The Taming of the Shrew — Act 2, Scene 1
The Winter’s Tale — Act 2, Scene 1
Troilus and Cressida — Act 3, Scene 2
Twelfth Night — Act 2, Scene 4
• 2 Male
Hamlet — Act 1, Scene 5
Othello — Act 3, Scene 3
Othello — Act 4, Scene 1
The Winter’s Tale — Act 1, Scene 2
• 2 Female
Two Gentlemen of Verona — Act 4, Scene 4
The Comedy of Errors — Act 2, Scene 1
Scenes with 3 Characters
• 2 Female - 1 Male
Antony and Cleopatra — Act 2, Scene 5
As You Like It — Act 3, Scene 5
Cymbeline — Act 1, Scene 1
Macbeth — Act 5, Scene 1
The Comedy of Errors — Act 4, Scene 2
The Taming of the Shrew — Act 2, Scene 1
Twelfth Night — Act 3, Scene 1
• 2 Male - 1 Female
The Merchant of Venice — Act 4, Scene 1
The Tempest — Act 3, Scene 1
• 3 Male
Hamlet — Act 2, Scene 2
Julius Caesar — Act 4, Scene 3
Scenes with 4 Characters
• 2 Male - 2 Female
The Merry Wives of Windsor — Act 4, Scene 1
Titus Andronicus — Act 5, Scene 3
• 3 Male - 1 Female
Measure for Measure — Act 2, Scene 2
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 2, Scene 1
The Merchant of Venice — Act 5, Scene 1
• 3 Female - 1 Male
King Lear — Act 1, Scene 1
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 3, Scene 1
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 3, Scene 4
• 4 Female
All’s Well That Ends Well — Act 3, Scene 5
Coriolanus — Act 1, Scene 3
Love’s Labour’s Lost — Act 5, Scene 2
• 1 Male - 1 Female - 2 Male or Female
A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Act 2, Scene 1
Scenes with 5 OR MORE Characters
• 5 Characters
Love’s Labour’s Lost — Act 4, Scene 1 (3 female, 2 male)
Macbeth — Act 1, Scene 3 (3 female, 2 male)
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 2, Scene 3 (4 male, 1 female)
Two Gentlemen of Verona — Act 4, Scene 2 (3 male, 2 female)
• 6 Characters
A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Act 3, Scene 1 (1 male, 1 female, 4 male or female)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Act 1, Scene 2 (6 male)
Macbeth — Act 3, Scene 4 (5 male, 1 female)
The Merchant of Venice — Act 5, Scene 1 (4 male, 2 female)
The Taming of the Shrew — Act 4, Scene 3 (5 male, 1 female)
• 7 Characters
A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Act 3, Scene 1 (6 male, 1 female)
The Merry Wives of Windsor — Act 3, Scene 4 (4 male, 3 female)
• 8 Characters
Hamlet — Act 3, Scene 2 (5 male, 3 female)
Much Ado about Nothing — Act 4, Scene 1 (7 male, 1 female)
• 12 Characters
A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Act 5, Scene 1 (9 male, 3 female)
• 13 Characters
Richard III — Act 5, Scene 3 (2 male, 1 female, 10 male or female)
