Shakespeare Monologues

[Dare2bProud]

Any theatre people on here know of a good Shakespeare monologue for auditions, that is not very familiar or overdone, that I should research? Name of the play and character that speaks the speech would be helpful

Thanks!

[malachite]

If your looking for comedy Puke from A Midsummer Night's Dream has a few. I like the one where he is searching the woods for the two lovers to put the love juice on their eyes.

Hecate's speech from Macbeth is one of my favourites...

Have I not reason, beldams as you are,
Saucy and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron
Meet me i' the morning: thither he
Will come to know his destiny:
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms and every thing beside.
I am for the air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end:
Great business must be wrought ere noon:
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that distill'd by magic sleights
Shall raise such artificial sprites
As by the strength of their illusion
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
He hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear:
And you all know, security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.

But I'm really only familiar with the female inclined monologues. So I'm not sure I could help you out.

[Helen]

Perhaps Edmund's "bastard" speech in Act 1, Scene 2 of King Lear? That's a pretty good one.

[Taurusguy92]

Play: Henry V
Character: Henry V

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

[Paper Heart]

Originally Posted by malachite

If your looking for comedy Puke from A Midsummer Night's Dream has a few. I like the one where he is searching the woods for the two lovers to put the love juice on their eyes.

I think you mean Puck.

I would say MacBeth's "Is this a Dagger" speech, however it is definitely esteemed.

[Dare2bProud]

Great ideas so far! Thanks!

[malachite]

I would avoid anything Romeo and Juliet, super over done

[Dare2bProud]

Originally Posted by malachite

I would avoid anything Romeo and Juliet, super over done

What if I just recite the lyrics to Taylor Swift's "Love Story"? That should make a great audition eh?!

[malachite]

Originally Posted by Dare2bProud

What if I just recite the lyrics to Taylor Swift's "Love Story"? That should make a great audition eh?!

Just look for their ears to start bleed then tell them you'll stop when give you the job

[Dare2bProud]

Originally Posted by malachite

Just look for their ears to start bleed then tell them you'll stop when give you the job

LOL! That's how it works ...!

[Porphyrogenitus]

Originally Posted by Taurusguy92

Play: Henry V
Character: Henry V

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
...

If you're thinking of Henry V, I'd recommend his soliloquy in IV:i "Upon the king..."

[Stuie]

The monologue I'm most familiar with is the one at the start of Richard III.

"Now is the winter of our discontent
made glorious summer by this son of York"

[IsItSo]

Originally Posted by Numfarh

Hecate's speech from Macbeth is one of my favourites...

It's debatable whether or not that character was actually in the original script or was written in for a later production.

[RedState]

Ahhh...love ole Bill.

Other than Kenny Rogers' "Day Time Friends and Night Time Lovers" monologue (I think it got a golden record or something) this is one of my favorite passages: from The Two Gentlemen from Verona

What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
unless it is to think that she is by....
And feed upon the shadow of perfection (I love that friggin line)
Except I be by Silvia in the night
There is no music in the nightingale,
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day to look upon
She....she is my essence.