✦ Full public-domain passages are shown without shortening them to fit a timer. Estimated performance times begin at 75 seconds and may run for several minutes.
01Character: JulietAct 3 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 40 sec
Character: Juliet — Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet speaks in Act 3 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner As Phaethon would whip you to the west, And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen. Lovers can see to do their amorous rites By their own beauties; or, if love be blind, It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, And learn me how to lose a winning match, Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods: Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks, With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold, Think true love acted simple modesty. Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night; For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Whiter than new snow on a raven's back. Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night, Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun. O, I have bought the mansion of a love, But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold, Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse, And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence. Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords That Romeo bid thee fetch?”
FemaleYoung adultRoyalty
02Character: HamletAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 38 sec
Character: Hamlet — Hamlet
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Hamlet, Hamlet speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“To be, or not to be, that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.--Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember'd.”
MaleAdultNoble
03Character: King Henry VAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 37 sec
Character: King Henry V — Henry V
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Henry V, King Henry V speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“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!'.”
MaleMature adultRoyalty
04Character: MacbethAct 1 · Scene 7Estimated performance: 2 min 10 sec
Character: Macbeth — Macbeth
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Macbeth, Macbeth speaks in Act 1 · Scene 7. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other. How now! what news?”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
05Character: JaquesAct 2 · Scene 7Estimated performance: 2 min 2 sec
Character: Jaques — As You Like It
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In As You Like It, Jaques speaks in Act 2 · Scene 7. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
MaleAdultProfessional
06Character: RomeoAct 2 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 2 sec
Character: Romeo — Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo speaks in Act 2 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“He jests at scars that never felt a wound. But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
07Character: King LearAct 2 · Scene 4Estimated performance: 1 min 50 sec
Character: King Lear — King Lear
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In King Lear, King Lear speaks in Act 2 · Scene 4. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O, reason not the need: our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life's as cheap as beast's: thou art a lady; If only to go warm were gorgeous, Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st, Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need,-- You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need! You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, As full of grief as age; wretched in both! If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts Against their father, fool me not so much To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger, And let not women's weapons, water-drops, Stain my man's cheeks! No, you unnatural hags, I will have such revenges on you both, That all the world shall--I will do such things,-- What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep No, I'll not weep: I have full cause of weeping; but this heart Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws, Or ere I'll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!”
MaleMature adultRoyalty
08Character: OthelloAct 5 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 49 sec
Character: Othello — Othello
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Othello, Othello speaks in Act 5 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,-- Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!-- It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then put out the light: If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me: but once put out thy light, Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again. It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree. Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade Justice to break her sword! One more, one more. Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, And love thee after. One more, and this the last: So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep, But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly; It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.”
MaleAdultWorking class
09Character: PortiaAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 38 sec
Character: Portia — The Merchant of Venice
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Merchant of Venice, Portia speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea; Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.”
FemaleMature adultOutsider
10Character: Lady MacbethAct 1 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 1 min 35 sec
Character: Lady Macbeth — Macbeth
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth speaks in Act 1 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Give him tending; He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold!' Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant.”
FemaleYoung adultNoble
11Character: ProsperoAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 19 sec
Character: Prospero — The Tempest
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Tempest, Prospero speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“You do look, my son, in a moved sort, As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd; Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled: Be not disturb'd with my infirmity: If you be pleased, retire into my cell And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk, To still my beating mind.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
12Character: AntonyAct 3 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 33 sec
Character: Antony — Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Julius Caesar, Antony speaks in Act 3 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-- For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men-- Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.”
MaleMature adultNoble
13Character: CassiusAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 12 sec
Character: Cassius — Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Julius Caesar, Cassius speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that 'Caesar'? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as fair a name; Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em, Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar. Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods! When went there by an age, since the great flood, But it was famed with more than with one man? When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome, That her wide walls encompass'd but one man? Now is it Rome indeed and room enough, When there is in it but one only man. O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
14Character: EdmundAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 35 sec
Character: Edmund — King Lear
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In King Lear, Edmund speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound. Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom, and permit The curiosity of nations to deprive me, For that I am some twelve or fourteen moon-shines Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base? When my dimensions are as well compact, My mind as generous, and my shape as true, As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base? Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take More composition and fierce quality Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed, Go to the creating a whole tribe of fops, Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well, then, Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land: Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund As to the legitimate: fine word,--legitimate! Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, And my invention thrive, Edmund the base Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper: Now, gods, stand up for bastards!”
MaleAdultOutsider
15Character: GloucesterAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 3 min 4 sec
Character: Gloucester — Richard III
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Richard III, Gloucester speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them; Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to spy my shadow in the sun And descant on mine own deformity: And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, To set my brother Clarence and the king In deadly hate the one against the other: And if King Edward be as true and just As I am subtle, false and treacherous, This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up, About a prophecy, which says that 'G' Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here Clarence comes. Brother, good day; what means this armed guard That waits upon your grace?”
MaleMature adultProfessional
16Character: King Henry VAct 5 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 37 sec
Character: King Henry V — Henry IV, Part 2
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Henry IV, Part 2, King Henry V speaks in Act 5 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“No! How might a prince of my great hopes forget So great indignities you laid upon me? What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison The immediate heir of England! Was this easy? May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten? Lord Chief-Justice I then did use the person of your father; The image of his power lay then in me: And, in the administration of his law, Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth, Your highness pleased to forget my place, The majesty and power of law and justice, The image of the king whom I presented, And struck me in my very seat of judgment; Whereon, as an offender to your father, I gave bold way to my authority And did commit you. If the deed were ill, Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have a son set your decrees at nought, To pluck down justice from your awful bench, To trip the course of law and blunt the sword That guards the peace and safety of your person; Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image And mock your workings in a second body. Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours; Be now the father and propose a son, Hear your own dignity so much profaned, See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted, Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd; And then imagine me taking your part And in your power soft silencing your son: After this cold considerance, sentence me; And, as you are a king, speak in your state What I have done that misbecame my place, My person, or my liege's sovereignty.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
17Character: IagoAct 1 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 2 min 30 sec
Character: Iago — Othello
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Othello, Iago speaks in Act 1 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will. Come, be a man. Drown thyself! drown cats and blind puppies. I have professed me thy friend and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness; I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse; follow thou the wars; defeat thy favour with an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor,-- put money in thy purse,--nor he his to her: it was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration:--put but money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable in their wills: fill thy purse with money:--the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice: she must have change, she must: therefore put money in thy purse. If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money thou canst: if sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way: seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy than to be drowned and go without her.”
MaleAdultNoble
18Character: DuchessAct 2 · Scene 4Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Duchess — Henry VI, Part 2
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Henry VI, Part 2, Duchess speaks in Act 2 · Scene 4. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Ah, Gloucester, teach me to forget myself! For whilst I think I am thy married wife And thou a prince, protector of this land, Methinks I should not thus be led along, Mail'd up in shame, with papers on my back, And followed with a rabble that rejoice To see my tears and hear my deep-fet groans. The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet, And when I start, the envious people laugh And bid me be advised how I tread. Ah, Humphrey, can I bear this shameful yoke? Trow'st thou that e'er I'll look upon the world, Or count them happy that enjoy the sun? No; dark shall be my light and night my day; To think upon my pomp shall be my hell. Sometime I'll say, I am Duke Humphrey's wife, And he a prince and ruler of the land: Yet so he ruled and such a prince he was As he stood by whilst I, his forlorn duchess, Was made a wonder and a pointing-stock To every idle rascal follower. But be thou mild and blush not at my shame, Nor stir at nothing till the axe of death Hang over thee, as, sure, it shortly will; For Suffolk, he that can do all in all With her that hateth thee and hates us all, And York and impious Beaufort, that false priest, Have all limed bushes to betray thy wings, And, fly thou how thou canst, they'll tangle thee: But fear not thou, until thy foot be snared, Nor never seek prevention of thy foes.”
FemaleMature adultNoble
19Character: RosalindAct 3 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 2 min 25 sec
Character: Rosalind — As You Like It
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In As You Like It, Rosalind speaks in Act 3 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“And why, I pray you? Who might be your mother, That you insult, exult, and all at once, Over the wretched? What though you have no beauty,-- As, by my faith, I see no more in you Than without candle may go dark to bed-- Must you be therefore proud and pitiless? Why, what means this? Why do you look on me? I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature's sale-work. 'Od's my little life, I think she means to tangle my eyes too! No, faith, proud mistress, hope not after it: 'Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream, That can entame my spirits to your worship. You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her, Like foggy south puffing with wind and rain? You are a thousand times a properer man Than she a woman: 'tis such fools as you That makes the world full of ill-favour'd children: 'Tis not her glass, but you, that flatters her; And out of you she sees herself more proper Than any of her lineaments can show her. But, mistress, know yourself: down on your knees, And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love: For I must tell you friendly in your ear, Sell when you can: you are not for all markets: Cry the man mercy; love him; take his offer: Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer. So take her to thee, shepherd: fare you well.”
FemaleYoung adultOutsider
20Character: King Richard IIIAct 5 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 2 min 17 sec
Character: King Richard III — Richard III
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Richard III, King Richard III speaks in Act 5 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Give me another horse: bind up my wounds. Have mercy, Jesu!--Soft! I did but dream. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. What do I fear? myself? there's none else by: Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I. Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am: Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why: Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself? Alack. I love myself. Wherefore? for any good That I myself have done unto myself? O, no! alas, I rather hate myself For hateful deeds committed by myself! I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not. Fool, of thyself speak well: fool, do not flatter. My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain. Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree Murder, stem murder, in the direst degree; All several sins, all used in each degree, Throng to the bar, crying all, Guilty! guilty! I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; And if I die, no soul shall pity me: Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself Find in myself no pity to myself? Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd Came to my tent; and every one did threat To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard.”
MaleAdultRoyalty
21Character: ImogenAct 3 · Scene 6Estimated performance: 2 min 13 sec
Character: Imogen — Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Cymbeline, Imogen speaks in Act 3 · Scene 6. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I see a man's life is a tedious one: I have tired myself, and for two nights together Have made the ground my bed. I should be sick, But that my resolution helps me. Milford, When from the mountain-top Pisanio show'd thee, Thou wast within a ken: O Jove! I think Foundations fly the wretched; such, I mean, Where they should be relieved. Two beggars told me I could not miss my way: will poor folks lie, That have afflictions on them, knowing 'tis A punishment or trial? Yes; no wonder, When rich ones scarce tell true. To lapse in fulness Is sorer than to lie for need, and falsehood Is worse in kings than beggars. My dear lord! Thou art one o' the false ones. Now I think on thee, My hunger's gone; but even before, I was At point to sink for food. But what is this? Here is a path to't: 'tis some savage hold: I were best not to call; I dare not call: yet famine, Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant, Plenty and peace breeds cowards: hardness ever Of hardiness is mother. Ho! who's here? If any thing that's civil, speak; if savage, Take or lend. Ho! No answer? Then I'll enter. Best draw my sword: and if mine enemy But fear the sword like me, he'll scarcely look on't. Such a foe, good heavens!”
FemaleMature adultRoyalty
22Character: DuchessAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 11 sec
Character: Duchess — Richard II
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Richard II, Duchess speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur? Hath love in thy old blood no living fire? Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one, Were as seven vials of his sacred blood, Or seven fair branches springing from one root: Some of those seven are dried by nature's course, Some of those branches by the Destinies cut; But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester, One vial full of Edward's sacred blood, One flourishing branch of his most royal root, Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spilt, Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded, By envy's hand and murder's bloody axe. Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine! that bed, that womb, That metal, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee Made him a man; and though thou livest and breathest, Yet art thou slain in him: thou dost consent In some large measure to thy father's death, In that thou seest thy wretched brother die, Who was the model of thy father's life. Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair: In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd, Thou showest the naked pathway to thy life, Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee: That which in mean men we intitle patience Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts. What shall I say? to safeguard thine own life, The best way is to venge my Gloucester's death.”
FemaleYoung adultNoble
23Character: ShylockAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 10 sec
Character: Shylock — The Merchant of Venice
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose; And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn To have the due and forfeit of my bond: If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your city's freedom. You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have A weight of carrion flesh than to receive Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that: But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd? What if my house be troubled with a rat And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet? Some men there are love not a gaping pig; Some, that are mad if they behold a cat; And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose, Cannot contain their urine: for affection, Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer: As there is no firm reason to be render'd, Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; Why he, a harmless necessary cat; Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force Must yield to such inevitable shame As to offend, himself being offended; So can I give no reason, nor I will not, More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing I bear Antonio, that I follow thus A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?”
MaleMature adultOutsider
24Character: ViolaAct 2 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 59 sec
Character: Viola — Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Twelfth Night, Viola speaks in Act 2 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I left no ring with her: what means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her! She made good view of me; indeed, so much, That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue, For she did speak in starts distractedly. She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion Invites me in this churlish messenger. None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none. I am the man: if it be so, as 'tis, Poor lady, she were better love a dream. Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness, Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. How easy is it for the proper-false In women's waxen hearts to set their forms! Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we! For such as we are made of, such we be. How will this fadge? my master loves her dearly; And I, poor monster, fond as much on him; And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me. What will become of this? As I am man, My state is desperate for my master's love; As I am woman,--now alas the day!-- What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! O time! thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie!”
FemaleMature adultOutsider
25Character: Mark AntonyAct 4 · Scene 12Estimated performance: 1 min 42 sec
Character: Mark Antony — Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Antony and Cleopatra, Mark Antony speaks in Act 4 · Scene 12. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“All is lost; This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me: My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder They cast their caps up and carouse together Like friends long lost. Triple-turn'd whore! 'tis thou Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly; For when I am revenged upon my charm, I have done all. Bid them all fly; begone. O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more: Fortune and Antony part here; even here Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd, That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am: O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,-- Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home; Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,-- Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me to the very heart of loss. What, Eros, Eros! Ah, thou spell! Avaunt!”
MaleYoung adultProfessional
26Character: CleopatraAct 4 · Scene 15Estimated performance: 1 min 31 sec
Character: Cleopatra — Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra speaks in Act 4 · Scene 15. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“No more, but e'en a woman, and commanded By such poor passion as the maid that milks And does the meanest chares. It were for me To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods; To tell them that this world did equal theirs Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's but naught; Patience is scottish, and impatience does Become a dog that's mad: then is it sin To rush into the secret house of death, Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women? What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian! My noble girls! Ah, women, women, look, Our lamp is spent, it's out! Good sirs, take heart: We'll bury him; and then, what's brave, what's noble, Let's do it after the high Roman fashion, And make death proud to take us. Come, away: This case of that huge spirit now is cold: Ah, women, women! come; we have no friend But resolution, and the briefest end.”
FemaleAdultRoyalty
27Character: PortiaAct 2 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 30 sec
Character: Portia — Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Julius Caesar, Portia speaks in Act 2 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Nor for yours neither. You've ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper, You suddenly arose, and walk'd about, Musing and sighing, with your arms across, And when I ask'd you what the matter was, You stared upon me with ungentle looks; I urged you further; then you scratch'd your head, And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot; Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not, But, with an angry wafture of your hand, Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did; Fearing to strengthen that impatience Which seem'd too much enkindled, and withal Hoping it was but an effect of humour, Which sometime hath his hour with every man. It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep, And could it work so much upon your shape As it hath much prevail'd on your condition, I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord, Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.”
FemaleMature adultNoble
28Character: IsabellaAct 2 · Scene 4Estimated performance: 1 min 16 sec
Character: Isabella — Measure for Measure
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Measure for Measure, Isabella speaks in Act 2 · Scene 4. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, Who would believe me? O perilous mouths, That bear in them one and the self-same tongue, Either of condemnation or approof; Bidding the law make court'sy to their will: Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite, To follow as it draws! I'll to my brother: Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood, Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour. That, had he twenty heads to tender down On twenty bloody blocks, he'ld yield them up, Before his sister should her body stoop To such abhorr'd pollution. Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die: More than our brother is our chastity. I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request, And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest.”
FemaleYoung adultWorking class
29Character: FaustusAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 31 sec
Character: Faustus — Doctor Faustus
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Doctor Faustus, Faustus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium-- Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.-- Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!-- Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips, And all is dross that is not Helena. I will be Paris, and for love of thee, Instead of Troy, shall Wertenberg be sack'd; And I will combat with weak Menelaus, And wear thy colours on my plumed crest; Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel, And then return to Helen for a kiss. O, thou art fairer than the evening air Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars; Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter When he appear'd to hapless Semele; More lovely than the monarch of the sky In wanton Arethusa's azur'd arms; And none but thou shalt be my paramour! Enter the OLD MAN.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
30Character: BarabasAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 40 sec
Character: Barabas — The Jew of Malta
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Jew of Malta, Barabas speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Thus trolls our fortune in by land and sea, And thus are we on every side enrich'd: These are the blessings promis'd to the Jews, And herein was old Abraham's happiness: What more may heaven do for earthly man Than thus to pour out plenty in their laps, Ripping the bowels of the earth for them, Making the sea their servants, and the winds To drive their substance with successful blasts? Who hateth me but for my happiness? Or who is honour'd now but for his wealth? Rather had I, a Jew, be hated thus, Than pitied in a Christian poverty; For I can see no fruits in all their faith, But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride, Which methinks fits not their profession. Haply some hapless man hath conscience, And for his conscience lives in beggary. They say we are a scatter'd nation: I cannot tell; but we have scambled up More wealth by far than those that brag of faith: There's Kirriah Jairim, the great Jew of Greece, Obed in Bairseth, Nones in Portugal, Myself in Malta, some in Italy, Many in France, and wealthy every one; Ay, wealthier far than any Christian. I must confess we come not to be kings: That's not our fault: alas, our number's few! And crowns come either by succession, Or urg'd by force; and nothing violent, Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent. Give us a peaceful rule; make Christians kings, That thirst so much for principality. I have no charge, nor many children, But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear As Agamemnon did his Iphigen; And all I have is hers.--But who comes here? Enter three JEWS.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
31Character: TamburlaineAct 5 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 34 sec
Character: Tamburlaine — Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Tamburlaine speaks in Act 5 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“'Twas I, my lord, that gat the victory; And therefore grieve not at your overthrow, Since I shall render all into your hands, And add more strength to your dominions Than ever yet confirm'd th' Egyptian crown. The god of war resigns his room to me, Meaning to make me general of the world: Jove, viewing me in arms, looks pale and wan, Fearing my power should pull him from his throne: Where'er I come the Fatal Sisters sweat, And grisly Death, by running to and fro, To do their ceaseless homage to my sword: And here in Afric, where it seldom rains, Since I arriv'd with my triumphant host, Have swelling clouds, drawn from wide-gaping wounds, Been oft resolv'd in bloody purple showers, A meteor that might terrify the earth, And make it quake at every drop it drinks: Millions of souls sit on the banks of Styx, Waiting the back-return of Charon's boat; Hell and Elysium swarm with ghosts of men That I have sent from sundry foughten fields To spread my fame through hell and up to heaven: And see, my lord, a sight of strange import,-- Emperors and kings lie breathless at my feet; The Turk and his great empress, as it seems, Left to themselves while we were at the fight, Have desperately despatch'd their slavish lives: With them Arabia, too, hath left his life: All sights of power to grace my victory; And such are objects fit for Tamburlaine, Wherein, as in a mirror, may be seen His honour, that consists in shedding blood When men presume to manage arms with him.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
32Character: First VirginAct 5 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 13 sec
Character: First Virgin — Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, First Virgin speaks in Act 5 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Most happy king and emperor of the earth, Image of honour and nobility, For whom the powers divine have made the world, And on whose throne the holy Graces sit; In whose sweet person is compris'd the sum Of Nature's skill and heavenly majesty; Pity our plights! O, pity poor Damascus! Pity old age, within whose silver hairs Honour and reverence evermore have reign'd! Pity the marriage-bed, where many a lord, In prime and glory of his loving joy, Embraceth now with tears of ruth and blood The jealous body of his fearful wife, Whose cheeks and hearts, so punish'd with conceit, To think thy puissant never-stayed arm Will part their bodies, and prevent their souls From heavens of comfort yet their age might bear, Now wax all pale and wither'd to the death, As well for grief our ruthless governor Hath thus refus'd the mercy of thy hand, As for their liberties, their loves, or lives! O, then, for these, and such as we ourselves, For us, for infants, and for all our bloods, That never nourish'd thought against thy rule, Pity, O, pity, sacred emperor, The prostrate service of this wretched town; And take in sign thereof this gilded wreath, Whereto each man of rule hath given his hand, And wish'd, as worthy subjects, happy means To be investers of thy royal brows Even with the true Egyptian diadem!”
MaleAdultNoble
33Character: BajazethAct 5 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 1 sec
Character: Bajazeth — Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Bajazeth speaks in Act 5 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O life, more loathsome to my vexed thoughts Than noisome parbreak of the Stygian snakes, Which fills the nooks of hell with standing air, Infecting all the ghosts with cureless griefs! O dreary engines of my loathed sight, That see my crown, my honour, and my name Thrust under yoke and thraldom of a thief, Why feed ye still on day's accursed beams, And sink not quite into my tortur'd soul? You see my wife, my queen, and emperess, Brought up and propped by the hand of Fame, Queen of fifteen contributory queens, Now thrown to rooms of black abjection, Smeared with blots of basest drudgery, And villainess to shame, disdain, and misery. Accursed Bajazeth, whose words of ruth, That would with pity cheer Zabina's heart, And make our souls resolve in ceaseless tears, Sharp hunger bites upon and gripes the root From whence the issues of my thoughts do break! O poor Zabina! O my queen, my queen! Fetch me some water for my burning breast, To cool and comfort me with longer date, That, in the shorten'd sequel of my life, I may pour forth my soul into thine arms With words of love, whose moaning intercourse Hath hitherto been stay'd with wrath and hate Of our expressless bann'd inflictions.”
MaleMature adultWorking class
34Character: IthamoreAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 51 sec
Character: Ithamore — The Jew of Malta
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Jew of Malta, Ithamore speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I never knew a man take his death so patiently as this friar; he was ready to leap off ere the halter was about his neck; and, when the hangman had put on his hempen tippet, he made such haste to his prayers, as if he had had another cure to serve. Well, go whither he will, I'll be none of his followers in haste: and, now I think on't, going to the execution, a fellow met me with a muschatoes like a raven's wing, and a dagger with a hilt like a warming-pan; and he gave me a letter from one Madam Bellamira, saluting me in such sort as if he had meant to make clean my boots with his lips; the effect was, that I should come to her house: I wonder what the reason is; it may be she sees more in me than I can find in myself; for she writes further, that she loves me ever since she saw me; and who would not requite such love? Here's her house; and here she comes; and now would I were gone! I am not worthy to look upon her.”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
35Character: ZenocrateAct 5 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 47 sec
Character: Zenocrate — Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Zenocrate speaks in Act 5 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Earth, cast up fountains from thy entrails, And wet thy cheeks for their untimely deaths; Shake with their weight in sign of fear and grief! Blush, heaven, that gave them honour at their birth, And let them die a death so barbarous! Those that are proud of fickle empery And place their chiefest good in earthly pomp, Behold the Turk and his great emperess! Ah, Tamburlaine my love, sweet Tamburlaine, That fight'st for sceptres and for slippery crowns, Behold the Turk and his great emperess! Thou that, in conduct of thy happy stars, Sleep'st every night with conquest on thy brows, And yet wouldst shun the wavering turns of war, In fear and feeling of the like distress Behold the Turk and his great emperess! Ah, mighty Jove and holy Mahomet, Pardon my love! O, pardon his contempt Of earthly fortune and respect of pity; And let not conquest, ruthlessly pursu'd, Be equally against his life incens'd In this great Turk and hapless emperess! And pardon me that was not mov'd with ruth To see them live so long in misery!-- Ah, what may chance to thee, Zenocrate?”
MaleAdultProfessional
36Character: MeanderAct 2 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 43 sec
Character: Meander — Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Meander speaks in Act 2 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Then, having pass'd Armenian deserts now, And pitch'd our tents under the Georgian hills, Whose tops are cover'd with Tartarian thieves, That lie in ambush, waiting for a prey, What should we do but bid them battle straight, And rid the world of those detested troops? Lest, if we let them linger here a while, They gather strength by power of fresh supplies. This country swarms with vile outragious men That live by rapine and by lawless spoil, Fit soldiers for the wicked Tamburlaine; And he that could with gifts and promises Inveigle him that led a thousand horse, And make him false his faith unto his king, Will quickly win such as be like himself. Therefore cheer up your minds; prepare to fight: He that can take or slaughter Tamburlaine, Shall rule the province of Albania; Who brings that traitor's head, Theridamas, Shall have a government in Media, Beside the spoil of him and all his train: But, if Cosroe remains with Tamburlaine, His highness' pleasure is that he should live, And be reclaim'd with princely lenity. Enter a SPY.”
MaleMature adultRoyalty
37Character: EmperorAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 40 sec
Character: Emperor — Doctor Faustus
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Doctor Faustus, Emperor speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Then, Doctor Faustus, mark what I shall say. As I was sometime solitary set Within my closet, sundry thoughts arose About the honour of mine ancestors, How they had won by prowess such exploits, Got such riches, subdu'd so many kingdoms, As we that do succeed, or they that shall Hereafter possess our throne, shall ne'er attain to that degree Of high renown and great authority: Amongst which kings is Alexander the Great, Chief spectacle of the world's pre-eminence, The bright shining of whose glorious acts Lightens the world with his reflecting beams, As when I hear but motion made of him, It grieves my soul I never saw the man: If, therefore, thou, by cunning of thine art, Canst raise this man from hollow vaults below, Where lies entomb'd this famous conqueror, And bring with him his beauteous paramour, Both in their right shapes, gesture, and attire They us'd to wear during their time of life, Thou shalt both satisfy my just desire, And give me cause to praise thee whilst I live.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
38Character: MenaphonAct 2 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 39 sec
Character: Menaphon — Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Christopher Marlowe
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, Menaphon speaks in Act 2 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Of stature tall, and straightly fashioned, Like his desire, lift upwards and divine; So large of limbs, his joints so strongly knit, Such breadth of shoulders as might mainly bear Old Atlas' burden; 'twixt his manly pitch, A pearl more worth than all the world is plac'd, Wherein by curious sovereignty of art Are fix'd his piercing instruments of sight, Whose fiery circles bear encompassed A heaven of heavenly bodies in their spheres, That guides his steps and actions to the throne Where honour sits invested royally; Pale of complexion, wrought in him with passion, Thirsting with sovereignty and love of arms; His lofty brows in folds do figure death, And in their smoothness amity and life; About them hangs a knot of amber hair, Wrapped in curls, as fierce Achilles' was, On which the breath of heaven delights to play, Making it dance with wanton majesty; His arms and fingers long and sinewy, Betokening valour and excess of strength;-- In every part proportion'd like the man Should make the world subdu'd to Tamburlaine.”
MaleAdultWorking class
39Character: DuchessAct 3 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 1 min 47 sec
Character: Duchess — The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Duchess of Malfi, Duchess speaks in Act 3 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I prithee, who is greatest? Can you tell? Sad tales befit my woe: I 'll tell you one. A salmon, as she swam unto the sea. Met with a dog-fish, who encounters her With this rough language; 'Why art thou so bold To mix thyself with our high state of floods, Being no eminent courtier, but one That for the calmest and fresh time o' th' year Dost live in shallow rivers, rank'st thyself With silly smelts and shrimps? And darest thou Pass by our dog-ship without reverence?' 'O,' quoth the salmon, 'sister, be at peace: Thank Jupiter we both have pass'd the net! Our value never can be truly known, Till in the fisher's basket we be shown: I' th' market then my price may be the higher, Even when I am nearest to the cook and fire.' So to great men the moral may be stretched; Men oft are valu'd high, when they're most wretched.-- But come, whither you please. I am arm'd 'gainst misery; Bent to all sways of the oppressor's will: There 's no deep valley but near some great hill.”
FemaleMature adultNoble
40Character: BosolaAct 2 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 2 min 3 sec
Character: Bosola — The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Duchess of Malfi, Bosola speaks in Act 2 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Antonio hereabout did drop a paper:-- Some of your help, false friend. --O, here it is. What 's here? a child's nativity calculated! 'The duchess was deliver'd of a son, 'tween the hours twelve and one in the night, Anno Dom. 1504,'--that 's this year--'decimo nono Decembris,'--that 's this night-- 'taken according to the meridian of Malfi,'--that 's our duchess: happy discovery!--'The lord of the first house being combust in the ascendant, signifies short life; and Mars being in a human sign, joined to the tail of the Dragon, in the eighth house, doth threaten a violent death. Caetera non scrutantur.' Why, now 'tis most apparent; this precise fellow Is the duchess' bawd:--I have it to my wish! This is a parcel of intelligency Our courtiers were cas'd up for: it needs must follow That I must be committed on pretence Of poisoning her; which I 'll endure, and laugh at. If one could find the father now! but that Time will discover. Old Castruccio I' th' morning posts to Rome: by him I 'll send A letter that shall make her brothers' galls O'erflow their livers. This was a thrifty way! Though lust do mask in ne'er so strange disguise, She 's oft found witty, but is never wise.”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
41Character: AntonioAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 59 sec
Character: Antonio — The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Duchess of Malfi, Antonio speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Most true: He never pays debts unless they be shrewd turns, And those he will confess that he doth owe. Last, for this brother there, the cardinal, They that do flatter him most say oracles Hang at his lips; and verily I believe them, For the devil speaks in them. But for their sister, the right noble duchess, You never fix'd your eye on three fair medals Cast in one figure, of so different temper. For her discourse, it is so full of rapture, You only will begin then to be sorry When she doth end her speech, and wish, in wonder, She held it less vain-glory to talk much, Than your penance to hear her. Whilst she speaks, She throws upon a man so sweet a look That it were able to raise one to a galliard. That lay in a dead palsy, and to dote On that sweet countenance; but in that look There speaketh so divine a continence As cuts off all lascivious and vain hope. Her days are practis'd in such noble virtue, That sure her nights, nay, more, her very sleeps, Are more in heaven than other ladies' shrifts. Let all sweet ladies break their flatt'ring glasses, And dress themselves in her.”
MaleAdultRoyalty
42Character: FerdinandAct 3 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 44 sec
Character: Ferdinand — The Duchess of Malfi
John Webster
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Duchess of Malfi, Ferdinand speaks in Act 3 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“The howling of a wolf Is music to thee, screech-owl: prithee, peace.-- Whate'er thou art that hast enjoy'd my sister, For I am sure thou hear'st me, for thine own sake Let me not know thee. I came hither prepar'd To work thy discovery; yet am now persuaded It would beget such violent effects As would damn us both. I would not for ten millions I had beheld thee: therefore use all means I never may have knowledge of thy name; Enjoy thy lust still, and a wretched life, On that condition.--And for thee, vile woman, If thou do wish thy lecher may grow old In thy embracements, I would have thee build Such a room for him as our anchorites To holier use inhabit. Let not the sun Shine on him till he 's dead; let dogs and monkeys Only converse with him, and such dumb things To whom nature denies use to sound his name; Do not keep a paraquito, lest she learn it; If thou do love him, cut out thine own tongue, Lest it bewray him.”
MaleMature adultNoble
43Character: FaceAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 21 sec
Character: Face — The Alchemist
Ben Jonson
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In The Alchemist, Face speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Away, this brach! I'll bring thee, rogue, within The statute of sorcery, tricesimo tertio Of Harry the Eighth: ay, and perhaps thy neck Within a noose, for laundring gold and barbing it. DOL . You'll bring your head within a cockscomb, will you? And you, sir, with your menstrue-- Gather it up.-- 'Sdeath, you abominable pair of stinkards, Leave off your barking, and grow one again, Or, by the light that shines, I'll cut your throats. I'll not be made a prey unto the marshal, For ne'er a snarling dog-bolt of you both. Have you together cozen'd all this while, And all the world, and shall it now be said, You've made most courteous shift to cozen yourselves? You will accuse him! you will "bring him in Within the statute!" Who shall take your word? A whoreson, upstart, apocryphal captain, Whom not a Puritan in Blackfriars will trust So much as for a feather: and you, too, Will give the cause, forsooth! you will insult, And claim a primacy in the divisions! You must be chief! as if you only had The powder to project with, and the work Were not begun out of equality? The venture tripartite? all things in common? Without priority? 'Sdeath! you perpetual curs, Fall to your couples again, and cozen kindly, And heartily, and lovingly, as you should, And lose not the beginning of a term, Or, by this hand, I shall grow factious too, And take my part, and quit you.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
44Character: Enter VolponeAct 5 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 1 min 51 sec
Character: Enter Volpone — Volpone
Ben Jonson
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Volpone, Enter Volpone speaks in Act 5 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“VOLP: To make a snare for mine own neck! and run My head into it, wilfully! with laughter! When I had newly 'scaped, was free, and clear, Out of mere wantonness! O, the dull devil Was in this brain of mine, when I devised it, And Mosca gave it second; he must now Help to sear up this vein, or we bleed dead.-- How now! who let you loose? whither go you now? What, to buy gingerbread? or to drown kitlings? NAN: Sir, master Mosca call'd us out of doors, And bid us all go play, and took the keys. AND: Yes. VOLP: Did master Mosca take the keys? why so! I'm farther in. These are my fine conceits! I must be merry, with a mischief to me! What a vile wretch was I, that could not bear My fortune soberly? I must have my crotchets, And my conundrums! Well, go you, and seek him: His meaning may be truer than my fear. Bid him, he straight come to me to the court; Thither will I, and, if't be possible, Unscrew my advocate, upon new hopes: When I provoked him, then I lost myself.”
MaleAdultOutsider
45Character: Lady WindermereAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 29 sec
Character: Lady Windermere — Lady Windermere's Fan
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Lady Windermere's Fan, Lady Windermere speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“She is sure to tell him. I can fancy a person doing a wonderful act of self-sacrifice, doing it spontaneously, recklessly, nobly—and afterwards finding out that it costs too much. Why should she hesitate between her ruin and mine? . . . How strange! I would have publicly disgraced her in my own house. She accepts public disgrace in the house of another to save me. . . . There is a bitter irony in things, a bitter irony in the way we talk of good and bad women. . . . Oh, what a lesson! and what a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us! For even if she doesn't tell, I must. Oh! the shame of it, the shame of it. To tell it is to live through it all again. Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless. . . . Oh!”
FemaleMature adultNoble
46Character: Lady MarkbyAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 36 sec
Character: Lady Markby — An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In An Ideal Husband, Lady Markby speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“And a very good thing too, dear, I dare say. It might break up many a happy home if they did. Not yours, I need hardly say, Gertrude. You have married a pattern husband. I wish I could say as much for myself. But since Sir John has taken to attending the debates regularly, which he never used to do in the good old days, his language has become quite impossible. He always seems to think that he is addressing the House, and consequently whenever he discusses the state of the agricultural labourer, or the Welsh Church, or something quite improper of that kind, I am obliged to send all the servants out of the room. It is not pleasant to see one's own butler, who has been with one for twenty-three years, actually blushing at the side-board, and the footmen making contortions in corners like persons in circuses. I assure you my life will be quite ruined unless they send John at once to the Upper House. He won't take any interest in politics then, will he? The House of Lords is so sensible. An assembly of gentlemen. But in his present state, Sir John is really a great trial. Why, this morning before breakfast was half over, he stood up on the hearthrug, put his hands in his pockets, and appealed to the country at the top of his voice. I left the table as soon as I had my second cup of tea, I need hardly say. But his violent language could be heard all over the house! I trust, Gertrude, that Sir Robert is not like that?”
FemaleYoung adultNoble
47Character: Duchess of BerwickAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 34 sec
Character: Duchess of Berwick — Lady Windermere's Fan
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Lady Windermere's Fan, Duchess of Berwick speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Ah, what indeed, dear? That is the point. He goes to see her continually, and stops for hours at a time, and while he is there she is not at home to any one. Not that many ladies call on her, dear, but she has a great many disreputable men friends—my own brother particularly, as I told you—and that is what makes it so dreadful about Windermere. We looked upon as being such a model husband, but I am afraid there is no doubt about it. My dear nieces—you know the Saville girls, don't you?—such nice domestic creatures—plain, dreadfully plain, but so good—well, they're always at the window doing fancy work, and making ugly things for the poor, which I think so useful of them in these dreadful socialistic days, and this terrible woman has taken a house in Curzon Street, right opposite them—such a respectable street, too! I don't know what we're coming to! And they tell me that Windermere goes there four and five times a week—they him. They can't help it—and although they never talk scandal, they—well, of course—they remark on it to every one. And the worst of it all is that I have been told that this woman has got a great deal of money out of somebody, for it seems that she came to London six months ago without anything at all to speak of, and now she has this charming house in Mayfair, drives her ponies in the Park every afternoon and all—well, all—since she has known poor dear.”
FemaleAdultNoble
48Character: HerodAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 30 sec
Character: Herod — Salome
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Salome, Herod speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Even to the half of my kingdom. Thou wilt be passing fair as a queen, Salomé, if it please thee to ask for the half of my kingdom. Will she not be fair as a queen? Ah! it is cold here! There is an icy wind, and I hear ... wherefore do I hear in the air this beating of wings? Ah! one might fancy a bird, a huge black bird that hovers over the terrace. Why can I not see it, this bird? The beat of its wings is terrible. The breath of the wind of its wings is terrible. It is a chill wind. Nay, but it is not cold, it is hot. I am choking. Pour water on my hands. Give me snow to eat. Loosen my mantle. Quick! quick! loosen my mantle. Nay, but leave it. It is my garland that hurts me, my garland of roses. The flowers are like fire. They have burned my forehead. Ah! I can breathe now. How red those petals are! They are like stains of blood on the cloth. That does not matter. You must not find symbols in everything you see. It makes life impossible. It were better to say that stains of blood are as lovely as rose petals. It were better far to say that.... But we will not speak of this. Now I am happy, I am passing happy. Have I not the right to be happy? Your daughter is going to dance for me. Will you not dance for me, Salomé? You have promised to dance for me.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
49Character: HesterAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 58 sec
Character: Hester — A Woman of No Importance
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In A Woman of No Importance, Hester speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“We are trying to build up life, Lady Hunstanton, on a better, truer, purer basis than life rests on here. This sounds strange to you all, no doubt. How could it sound other than strange? You rich people in England, you don't know how you are living. How could you know? You shut out from your society the gentle and the good. You laugh at the simple and the pure. Living, as you all do, on others and by them, you sneer at self-sacrifice, and if you throw bread to the poor, it is merely to keep them quiet for a season. With all your pomp and wealth and art you don't know how to live—you don't even know that. You love the beauty that you can see and touch and handle, the beauty that you can destroy, and do destroy, but of the unseen beauty of life, of the unseen beauty of a higher life, you know nothing. You have lost life's secret. Oh, your English society seems to me shallow, selfish, foolish. It has blinded its eyes, and stopped its ears. It lies like a leper in purple. It sits like a dead thing smeared with gold. It is all wrong, all wrong.”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
50Character: GeraldAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 58 sec
Character: Gerald — A Woman of No Importance
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In A Woman of No Importance, Gerald speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Mother, how changeable you are! You don't seem to know your own mind for a single moment. An hour and a half ago in the Drawing-room you agreed to the whole thing; now you turn round and make objections, and try to force me to give up my one chance in life. Yes, my one chance. You don't suppose that men like Lord Illingworth are to be found every day, do you, mother? It is very strange that when I have had such a wonderful piece of good luck, the one person to put difficulties in my way should be my own mother. Besides, you know, mother, I love Hester Worsley. Who could help loving her? I love her more than I have ever told you, far more. And if I had a position, if I had prospects, I could—I could ask her to—Don't you understand now, mother, what it means to me to be Lord Illingworth's secretary? To start like that is to find a career ready for one—before one—waiting for one. If I were Lord Illingworth's secretary I could ask Hester to be my wife. As a wretched bank clerk with a hundred a year it would be an impertinence.”
MaleAdultProfessional
51Character: Sir Robert ChilternAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 57 sec
Character: Sir Robert Chiltern — An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In An Ideal Husband, Sir Robert Chiltern speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“One night after dinner at Lord Radley's the Baron began talking about success in modern life as something that one could reduce to an absolutely definite science. With that wonderfully fascinating quiet voice of his he expounded to us the most terrible of all philosophies, the philosophy of power, preached to us the most marvellous of all gospels, the gospel of gold. I think he saw the effect he had produced on me, for some days afterwards he wrote and asked me to come and see him. He was living then in Park Lane, in the house Lord Woolcomb has now. I remember so well how, with a strange smile on his pale, curved lips, he led me through his wonderful picture gallery, showed me his tapestries, his enamels, his jewels, his carved ivories, made me wonder at the strange loveliness of the luxury in which he lived; and then told me that luxury was nothing but a background, a painted scene in a play, and that power, power over other men, power over the world, was the one thing worth having, the one supreme pleasure worth knowing, the one joy one never tired of, and that in our century only the rich possessed it.”
MaleMature adultNoble
52Character: Lord WindermereAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 39 sec
Character: Lord Windermere — Lady Windermere's Fan
Oscar Wilde
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Lady Windermere's Fan, Lord Windermere speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I sometimes wish you had. I should have been spared then the misery, the anxiety, the annoyance of the last six months. But rather than my wife should know—that the mother whom she was taught to consider as dead, the mother whom she has mourned as dead, is living—a divorced woman, going about under an assumed name, a bad woman preying upon life, as I know you now to be—rather than that, I was ready to supply you with money to pay bill after bill, extravagance after extravagance, to risk what occurred yesterday, the first quarrel I have ever had with my wife. You don't understand what that means to me. How could you? But I tell you that the only bitter words that ever came from those sweet lips of hers were on your account, and I hate to see you next her. You sully the innocence that is in her. And then I used to think that with all your faults you were frank and honest. You are not.”
MaleYoung adultNoble
53Character: Mrs. WarrenAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 35 sec
Character: Mrs. Warren — Mrs Warren's Profession
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Mrs Warren's Profession, Mrs. Warren speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I mean that youre throwing away all your chances for nothing. You think that people are what they pretend to be: that the way you were taught at school and college to think right and proper is the way things really are. But it's not: it's all only a pretence, to keep the cowardly slavish common run of people quiet. Do you want to find that out, like other women, at forty, when you've thrown yourself away and lost your chances; or won't you take it in good time now from your own mother, that loves you and swears to you that it's truth: gospel truth? Vivie: the big people, the clever people, the managing people, all know it. They do as I do, and think what I think. I know plenty of them. I know them to speak to, to introduce you to, to make friends of for you. I don't mean anything wrong: thats what you don't understand: your head is full of ignorant ideas about me. What do the people that taught you know about life or about people like me? When did they ever meet me, or speak to me, or let anyone tell them about me? the fools! Would they ever have done anything for you if I hadn't paid them? Havn't I told you that I want you to be respectable? Havn't I brought you up to be respectable? And how can you keep it up without my money and my influence and Lizzie's friends? Can't you see that youre cutting your own throat as well as breaking my heart in turning your back on me?”
FemaleMature adultWorking class
54Character: The DevilAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 35 sec
Character: The Devil — Man and Superman
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Man and Superman, The Devil speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Well, well, go your way, Senor Don Juan. I prefer to be my own master and not the tool of any blundering universal force. I know that beauty is good to look at; that music is good to hear; that love is good to feel; and that they are all good to think about and talk about. I know that to be well exercised in these sensations, emotions, and studies is to be a refined and cultivated being. Whatever they may say of me in churches on earth, I know that it is universally admitted in good society that the prince of Darkness is a gentleman; and that is enough for me. As to your Life Force, which you think irresistible, it is the most resistible thing in the world for a person of any character. But if you are naturally vulgar and credulous, as all reformers are, it will thrust you first into religion, where you will sprinkle water on babies to save their souls from me; then it will drive you from religion into science, where you will snatch the babies from the water sprinkling and inoculate them with disease to save them from catching it accidentally; then you will take to politics, where you will become the catspaw of corrupt functionaries and the henchman of ambitious humbugs; and the end will be despair and decrepitude, broken nerve and shattered hopes, vain regrets for that worst and silliest of wastes and sacrifices, the waste and sacrifice of the power of enjoyment: in a word, the punishment of the fool who pursues the better before he has secured the good.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
55Character: CatherineAct 2 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 33 sec
Character: Catherine — Arms and the Man
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Arms and the Man, Catherine speaks in Act 2 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Yes, here, as soon as possible. Be quick! (_Louka runs into the house. Catherine snatches her apron off and throws it behind a bush. She then takes up the salver and uses it as a mirror, with the result that the handkerchief tied round her head follows the apron. A touch to her hair and a shake to her dressing gown makes her presentable._) Oh, how—how—how can a man be such a fool! Such a moment to select! (_Louka appears at the door of the house, announcing "Captain Bluntschli;" and standing aside at the top of the steps to let him pass before she goes in again. He is the man of the adventure in Raina's room. He is now clean, well brushed, smartly uniformed, and out of trouble, but still unmistakably the same man. The moment Louka's back is turned, Catherine swoops on him with hurried, urgent, coaxing appeal._) Captain Bluntschli, I am very glad to see you; but you must leave this house at once. My husband has just returned, with my future son-in-law; and they know nothing. If they did, the consequences would be terrible. You are a foreigner: you do not feel our national animosities as we do. We still hate the Servians: the only effect of the peace on my husband is to make him feel like a lion baulked of his prey. If he discovered our secret, he would never forgive me; and my daughter's life would hardly be safe. Will you, like the chivalrous gentleman and soldier you are, leave at once before he finds you here?”
MaleYoung adultProfessional
56Character: RainaAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 32 sec
Character: Raina — Arms and the Man
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Arms and the Man, Raina speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Oh, I shall never be unworthy of you any more, my hero—never, never, never. (_She replaces it reverently, and selects a novel from the little pile of books. She turns over the leaves dreamily; finds her page; turns the book inside out at it; and then, with a happy sigh, gets into bed and prepares to read herself to sleep. But before abandoning herself to fiction, she raises her eyes once more, thinking of the blessed reality and murmurs A distant shot breaks the quiet of the night outside. She starts, listening; and two more shots, much nearer, follow, startling her so that she scrambles out of bed, and hastily blows out the candle on the chest of drawers. Then, putting her fingers in her ears, she runs to the dressing-table and blows out the light there, and hurries back to bed. The room is now in darkness: nothing is visible but the glimmer of the light in the pierced ball before the image, and the starlight seen through the slits at the top of the shutters. The firing breaks out again: there is a startling fusillade quite close at hand. Whilst it is still echoing, the shutters disappear, pulled open from without, and for an instant the rectangle of snowy starlight flashes out with the figure of a man in black upon it. The shutters close immediately and the room is dark again. But the silence is now broken by the sound of panting. Then there is a scrape; and the flame of a match is seen in the middle of the room._).”
FemaleAdultRoyalty
57Character: Don JuanAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Don Juan — Man and Superman
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Man and Superman, Don Juan speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Pardon me, Ana: I said nothing about a woman's whole mind. I spoke of her view of Man as a separate sex. It is no more cynical than her view of herself as above all things a Mother. Sexually, Woman is Nature's contrivance for perpetuating its highest achievement. Sexually, Man is Woman's contrivance for fulfilling Nature's behest in the most economical way. She knows by instinct that far back in the evolutional process she invented him, differentiated him, created him in order to produce something better than the single-sexed process can produce. Whilst he fulfils the purpose for which she made him, he is welcome to his dreams, his follies, his ideals, his heroisms, provided that the keystone of them all is the worship of woman, of motherhood, of the family, of the hearth. But how rash and dangerous it was to invent a separate creature whose sole function was her own impregnation! For mark what has happened. First, Man has multiplied on her hands until there are as many men as women; so that she has been unable to employ for her purposes more than a fraction of the immense energy she has left at his disposal by saving him the exhausting labor of gestation. This superfluous energy has gone to his brain and to his muscle. He has become too strong to be controlled by her bodily, and too imaginative and mentally vigorous to be content with mere self-reproduction. He has created civilization without consulting her, taking her domestic labor for granted as the foundation of it.”
MaleMature adultNoble
58Character: Mrs. DudgeonAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Mrs. Dudgeon — The Devil's Disciple
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In The Devil's Disciple, Mrs. Dudgeon speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I want none of your sulks. Here: help me to set this table. (_They place the table in the middle of the room, with Christy's end towards the fireplace and Mrs. Dudgeon's towards the sofa. Christy drops the table as soon as possible, and goes to the fire, leaving his mother to make the final adjustments of its position._) We shall have the minister back here with the lawyer and all the family to read the will before you have done toasting yourself. Go and wake that girl; and then light the stove in the shed: you can't have your breakfast here. And mind you wash yourself, and make yourself fit to receive the company. (_She punctuates these orders by going to the cupboard; unlocking it; and producing a decanter of wine, which has no doubt stood there untouched since the last state occasion in the family, and some glasses, which she sets on the table. Also two green ware plates, on one of which she puts a barmbrack with a knife beside it. On the other she shakes some biscuits out of a tin, putting back one or two, and counting the rest._) Now mind: there are ten biscuits there: let there be ten there when I come back after dressing myself. And keep your fingers off the raisins in that cake. And tell Essie the same. I suppose I can trust you to bring in the case of stuffed birds without breaking the glass? (_She replaces the tin in the cupboard, which she locks, pocketing the key carefully._).”
FemaleYoung adultWorking class
59Character: UndershaftAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 26 sec
Character: Undershaft — Major Barbara
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Major Barbara, Undershaft speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“The worst of crimes. All the other crimes are virtues beside it: all the other dishonors are chivalry itself by comparison. Poverty blights whole cities; spreads horrible pestilences; strikes dead the very souls of all who come within sight, sound or smell of it. What you call crime is nothing: a murder here and a theft there, a blow now and a curse then: what do they matter? they are only the accidents and illnesses of life: there are not fifty genuine professional criminals in London. But there are millions of poor people, abject people, dirty people, ill fed, ill clothed people. They poison us morally and physically: they kill the happiness of society: they force us to do away with our own liberties and to organize unnatural cruelties for fear they should rise against us and drag us down into their abyss. Only fools fear crime: we all fear poverty. Pah! you talk of your half-saved ruffian in West Ham: you accuse me of dragging his soul back to perdition. Well, bring him to me here; and I will drag his soul back again to salvation for you. Not by words and dreams; but by thirty-eight shillings a week, a sound house in a handsome street, and a permanent job. In three weeks he will have a fancy waistcoat; in three months a tall hat and a chapel sitting; before the end of the year he will shake hands with a duchess at a Primrose League meeting, and join the Conservative Party.”
MaleAdultOutsider
60Character: MendozaAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 24 sec
Character: Mendoza — Man and Superman
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Man and Superman, Mendoza speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I could not deny it; neither could I eradicate the impression it made on her mind. I could have got round any other objection; but no woman can stand a suspicion of indelicacy as to her person. My entreaties were in vain: she always retorted that she wasn't good enough for me, and recommended me to marry an accursed barmaid named Rebecca Lazarus, whom I loathed. I talked of suicide: she offered me a packet of beetle poison to do it with. I hinted at murder: she went into hysterics; and as I am a living man I went to America so that she might sleep without dreaming that I was stealing upstairs to cut her throat. In America I went out west and fell in with a man who was wanted by the police for holding up trains. It was he who had the idea of holding up motors cars--in the South of Europe: a welcome idea to a desperate and disappointed man. He gave me some valuable introductions to capitalists of the right sort. I formed a syndicate; and the present enterprise is the result. I became leader, as the Jew always becomes leader, by his brains and imagination. But with all my pride of race I would give everything I possess to be an Englishman. I am like a boy: I cut her name on the trees and her initials on the sod. When I am alone I lie down and tear my wretched hair and cry Louisa.”
MaleMature adultProfessional
61Character: AnswerAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 20 sec
Character: Answer — The Devil's Disciple
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In The Devil's Disciple, Answer speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“6. This article is inadmissible in any extremity. Sooner than this army will consent to ground their arms in their encampments, they will rush on the enemy determined to take no quarter. And, later on, "If General Gates does not mean to recede from the 6th article, the treaty ends at once: the army will to a man proceed to any act of desperation sooner than submit to that article." Here you have the man at his Burgoynest. Need I add that he had his own way; and that when the actual ceremony of surrender came, he would have played poor General Gates off the stage, had not that commander risen to the occasion by handing him back his sword. In connection with the reference to Indians with scalping knives, who, with the troops hired from Germany, made up about half Burgoyne's force, I may mention that Burgoyne offered two of them a reward to guide a Miss McCrea, betrothed to one of the English officers, into the English lines. The two braves quarrelled about the reward; and the more sensitive of them, as a protest against the unfairness of the other, tomahawked the young lady. The usual retaliations were proposed under the popular titles of justice and so forth; but as the tribe of the slayer would certainly have followed suit by a massacre of whites on the Canadian frontier, Burgoyne was compelled to forgive the crime, to the intense disgust of indignant Christendom.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
62Character: TannerAct 2 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 19 sec
Character: Tanner — Man and Superman
George Bernard Shaw
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Man and Superman, Tanner speaks in Act 2 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Is that any reason why you are not to call your soul your own? Oh, I protest against this vile abjection of youth to age! look at fashionable society as you know it. What does it pretend to be? An exquisite dance of nymphs. What is it? A horrible procession of wretched girls, each in the claws of a cynical, cunning, avaricious, disillusioned, ignorantly experienced, foul-minded old woman whom she calls mother, and whose duty it is to corrupt her mind and sell her to the highest bidder. Why do these unhappy slaves marry anybody, however old and vile, sooner than not marry at all? Because marriage is their only means of escape from these decrepit fiends who hide their selfish ambitions, their jealous hatreds of the young rivals who have supplanted them, under the mask of maternal duty and family affection. Such things are abominable: the voice of nature proclaims for the daughter a father's care and for the son a mother's. The law for father and son and mother and daughter is not the law of love: it is the law of revolution, of emancipation, of final supersession of the old and worn-out by the young and capable. I tell you, the first duty of manhood and womanhood is a Declaration of Independence: the man who pleads his father's authority is no man: the woman who pleads her mother's authority is unfit to bear citizens to a free people.”
MaleAdultNoble
63Character: Peer GyntAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 36 sec
Character: Peer Gynt — Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Peer Gynt, Peer Gynt speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I double-locked my Paradise, And took its key with me. The north-wind bore me seaward ho! While lovely women all forlorn Wept on the ocean strand. Still southward, southward clove my keel The salt sea-currents through. Where palms were swaying proud and fair, A garland round the ocean-bight, I set my ship afire. I climbed aboard the desert ship, A ship on four stout legs. It foamed beneath the lashing whip;—— Oh, catch me; I'm a flitting bird;— I'm twittering on a bough! Anitra, thou'rt the palm-tree's must; That know I now full well! Ay, even the Angora goat-milk cheese Is scarcely half such dainty fare, Anitra, ah, as thou! Stillness! Is the fair one listening? Has she heard my little song? Peeps she from behind the curtain, Veil and so forth cast aside?— Hush! A sound as though a cork From a bottle burst amain! Now once more! And yet again! Love-sighs can it be? or songs?— No, it is distinctly snoring.— Dulcet strain! Anitra sleepeth! Nightingale, thy warbling stay! Every sort of woe betide thee, If with gurgling trill thou darest— But, as says the text: Let be! Nightingale, thou art a singer; Ah, even such an one am I. He, like me, ensnares with music Tender, shrinking little hearts. Balmy night is made for music; Music is our common sphere; In the act of singing, we are We, Peer Gynt and nightingale. And the maiden's very sleeping Is my passion's crowning bliss;— For the lips protruded o'er the Beaker yet untasted quite—— But she's coming, I declare! After all, it's best she should.”
MaleMature adultWorking class
64Character: NoraAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min
Character: Nora — A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In A Doll's House, Nora speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Yes—someday, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now. Don't laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him; then it may be a good thing to have something in reserve— What nonsense! That time will never come. Now, what do you think of my great secret, Christine? Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to meet my engagements punctually. I may tell you that there is something that is called, in business, quarterly interest, and another thing called payment in installments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, you understand. I have not been able to put aside much from my housekeeping money, for Torvald must have a good table. I couldn't let my children be shabbily dressed; I have felt obliged to use up all he gave me for them, the sweet little darlings!”
FemaleYoung adultOutsider
65Character: HelmerAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 33 sec
Character: Helmer — A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In A Doll's House, Helmer speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Yes, do. Try and calm yourself, and make your mind easy again, my frightened little singing-bird. Be at rest, and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under. How warm and cosy our home is, Nora. Here is shelter for you; here I will protect you like a hunted dove that I have saved from a hawk's claws; I will bring peace to your poor beating heart. It will come, little by little, Nora, believe me. Tomorrow morning you will look upon it all quite differently; soon everything will be just as it was before. Very soon you won't need me to assure you that I have forgiven you; you will yourself feel the certainty that I have done so. Can you suppose I should ever think of such a thing as repudiating you, or even reproaching you? You have no idea what a true man's heart is like, Nora. There is something so indescribably sweet and satisfying, to a man, in the knowledge that he has forgiven his wife—forgiven her freely, and with all his heart. It seems as if that had made her, as it were, doubly his own; he has given her a new life, so to speak; and she has in a way become both wife and child to him. So you shall be for me after this, my little scared, helpless darling. Have no anxiety about anything, Nora; only be frank and open with me, and I will serve as will and conscience both to you—. What is this? Not gone to bed? Have you changed your things?”
MaleAdultProfessional
66Character: See AppendixAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 26 sec
Character: See Appendix — Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Peer Gynt, See Appendix speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Footnote 25: Literally "bushels." Footnote 26: An ecclesiastical dignitary—something equivalent to a rural dean. Footnote 27: "Jon med Skjæppen"—literally, "John with the Bushel"—a nickname given him in his days of prosperity, in allusion to his supposed bushels of money. Footnote 28: Pronounce . Footnote 29: It is believed in some parts of Norway that "changelings" can, by certain spells, be made to fly away up the chimney. Footnote 30: "Sendingsfolk," literally, "folks with presents." When the Norwegian peasants are bidden to a wedding-feast, they bring with them presents of eatables. Footnote 31: A somewhat violent peasant dance. Footnote 32: Foss —a waterfall. Footnote 33: A sort of master of ceremonies. Footnote 34: To kick the rafters is considered a great feat in the Halling-dance. The boy means that, in the open air, his leaps are not limited even by the rafters. Footnote 35: A marriage party among the peasants will often last several days. Footnote 36: Literally, "thoughts." Footnote 37: Literally, "last year." Footnote 38: "To read with the pastor," the preliminary to confirmation, is currently used as synonymous with "to be confirmed." Footnote 39: Literally, "A reader." Footnote 40: Literally, "Here shall judgment be called for." Footnote 41: Literally, "Must be bent to the hillside," made to bite the dust—but not in the sense of being killed. Footnote 42: A peasant idiom. ----- ACT SECOND SCENE FIRST. _PEER GYNT comes hastily and sullenly along the path. INGRID, still wearing some of her bridal ornaments, is trying to hold him back._.”
MaleMature adultRoyalty
67Character: PeerAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 23 sec
Character: Peer — Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Peer Gynt, Peer speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“There, too, my ethics won the day. I saw the traffic was a wrong one For people of a certain age. One may drop off before one dreams of it. And then there were the thousand pitfalls Laid by the philanthropic camp; Besides, of course, the hostile cruisers, And all the wind-and-weather risks. All this together won the day. I thought: Now, Peter, reef your sails: See to it you amend your faults! So in the South I bought some land, And kept the last meat-importation, Which chanced to be a superfine one. They throve so, grew so fat and sleek, That 'twas a joy to me, and them too. Yes, without boasting, I may say I acted as a father to them,— And found my profit in so doing. I built them schools, too, so that virtue Might uniformly be maintained at A certain general , And kept strict watch that never its Thermometer should sink below it. Now, furthermore, from all this business I've beat a definite retreat;— I've sold the whole plantation, and It's tale of live-stock, hide and hair. At parting, too, I served around, To big and little, gratis grog, So men and women all got drunk, And widows got their snuff as well. So that is why I trust,—provided The saying is not idle breath: Whoso does not do ill, does good,— My former errors are forgotten, And I, much more than most, can hold My misdeeds balanced by my virtues.”
MaleYoung adultNoble
68Character: BrandAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 7 sec
Character: Brand — Brand
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Brand, Brand speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“No, by delight no breast is riven;— Were it but so, the ill were less! Be passion's slave, be pleasure's thrall,— But be it utterly, all in all! Be not to-day, to-morrow, one, Another when a year is gone; Be what you are with all your heart, And not by pieces and in part. The Bacchant's clear, defined, complete, The sot, his sordid counterfeit; Silenus charms; but all his graces The drunkard's parody debases. Traverse the land from beach to beach, Try every man in heart and soul, You'll find he has no virtue whole, But just a little grain of each. A little pious in the pew, A little grave,—his fathers' way,— Over the cup a little gay,— It was his father's fashion too! A little warm when glasses clash, And stormy cheer and song go round For the small Folk, rock-will'd, rock-bound, That never stood the scourge and lash. A little free in promise-making; And then, when vows in liquor will'd Must be in mortal stress fulfill'd, A little fine in promise-breaking. Yet, as I say, all fragments still His faults, his merits, fragments all, Partial in good, partial in ill, Partial in great things and in small;— But here's the grief—that, worst or best, Each fragment of him wrecks the rest!”
MaleMature adultWorking class
69Character: The MayorAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 2 sec
Character: The Mayor — Brand
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Brand, The Mayor speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Why, no— I rather shout, not black, but , The time's humane; asks apt compliance, Not blunt and absolute defiance. We stand on democratic ground, Where what the people thinks is right; Shall against the mass propound His special views on black and white? In short, you, having a majority, Are best entitled to authority. So I submit, as they submitted, With you my humble lot I cast, And may I by no soul be twitted For not contending to the last! Folks now consider, I perceive, Petty and poor all I achieve; They say there's something of more worth Than richer harvests wrung from earth; They are not willing as they were, The necessary mite to spare; And the best cause, if will's not in it,— There's very little hope to win it. Believe me, 'tis no easy thing To drop one's plans for roads and bridges, For tapping meres and draining ridges, And more besides that was in swing. But, good Lord, what's a man to say? If he can't win, he must give way; Patiently trust that Time's his friend, And to the blast astutely bend. Now,—the folks' favour I've foregone In just the way it first was won; Ay, ay,—and by another track I'll get my old possession back.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
70Character: HeddaAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 59 sec
Character: Hedda — Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Hedda Gabler, Hedda speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Now I am burning your child, Thea!--Burning it, curly-locks! Your child and Eilert Lovborg's. I am burning--I am burning your child. ACT FOURTH. The same rooms at the TESMANS'. It is evening. The drawing- room is in darkness. The back room is lighted by the hanging lamp over the table. The curtains over the glass door are drawn close. HEDDA, dressed in black, walks to and fro in the dark room. Then she goes into the back room and disappears for a moment to the left. She is heard to strike a few chords on the piano. Presently she comes in sight again, and returns to the drawing-room. BERTA enters from the right, through the inner room, with a lighted lamp, which she places on the table in front of the corner settee in the drawing-room. Her eyes are red with weeping, and she has black ribbons in her cap. She goes quietly and circumspectly out to the right. HEDDA goes up to the glass door, lifts the curtain a little aside, and looks out into the darkness. Shortly afterwards, MISS TESMAN, in mourning, with a bonnet and veil on, comes in from the hall. HEDDA goes towards her and holds out her hand.”
FemaleYoung adultProfessional
71Character: LvoffAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 34 sec
Character: Lvoff — Ivanov
Anton Chekhov
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Ivanov, Lvoff speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“It is five o'clock. The ceremony must have begun. First the priest will bless them, and then they will be led to the church to be married. Is this how virtue and justice triumph? Not being able to rob Sarah, he has tortured her to death; and now he has found another victim whom he will deceive until he has robbed her, and then he will get rid of her as he got rid of poor Sarah. It is the same old sordid story. He will live to a fine old age in the seventh heaven of happiness, and will die with a clear conscience. No, Ivanoff, it shall not be! I shall drag your villainy to light! And when I tear off that accursed mask of yours and show you to the world as the blackguard you are, you shall come plunging down headfirst from your seventh heaven, into a pit so deep that the devil himself will not be able to drag you out of it! I am a man of honour; it is my duty to interfere in such cases as yours, and to open the eyes of the blind. I shall fulfil my mission, and to-morrow will find me far away from this accursed place. But what shall I do? To have an explanation with Lebedieff would be a hopeless task. Shall I make a scandal, and challenge Ivanoff to a duel? I am as excited as a child, and have entirely lost the power of planning anything. What shall I do? Shall I fight a duel? Enter KOSICH. He goes gaily up to LVOFF.”
MaleAdultRoyalty
72Character: LebedieffAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 28 sec
Character: Lebedieff — Ivanov
Anton Chekhov
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Ivanov, Lebedieff speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Listen to me, Nicholas; from your point of view what you are doing is quite right and proper, according to the rules of psychology, but I think this affair is a scandal and a great misfortune. I am an old man; hear me out for the last time. This is what I want to say to you: calm yourself; look at things simply, as every one else does; this is a simple world. The ceiling is white; your boots are black; sugar is sweet. You love Sasha and she loves you. If you love her, stay with her; if you don't, leave her. We shan't blame you. It is all perfectly simple. You are two healthy, intelligent, moral young people; thank God, you both have food and clothing--what more do you want? What if you have no money? That is no great misfortune--happiness is not bought with wealth. Of course your estate is mortgaged, Nicholas, as I know, and you have no money to pay the interest on the debt, but I am Sasha's father. I understand. Her mother can do as she likes--if she won't give any money, why, confound her, then she needn't, that's all! Sasha has just said that she does not want her part of it. As for your principles, Schopenhauer and all that, it is all folly. I have one hundred thousand roubles in the bank. Not a soul in the house knows it; it was my grandmother's money. That shall be for you both. Take it, give Matthew two thousand-- .”
MaleMature adultNoble
73Character: SashaAct 3 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 24 sec
Character: Sasha — Ivanov
Anton Chekhov
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Ivanov, Sasha speaks in Act 3 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“There are a great many things a man cannot understand. Any girl would rather love an unfortunate man than a fortunate one, because every girl would like to do something by loving. A man has his work to do, and so for him love is kept in the background. To talk to his wife, to walk with her in the garden, to pass the time pleasantly with her, that is all that love means to a man. But for us, love means life. I love you; that means that I dream only of how I shall cure you of your sadness, how I shall go with you to the ends of the earth. If you are in heaven, I am in heaven; if you are in the pit, I am in the pit. For instance, it would be the greatest happiness for me to write all night for you, or to watch all night that no one should wake you. I remember that three years ago, at threshing time, you came to us all dusty and sunburnt and tired, and asked for a drink. When I brought you a glass of water you were already lying on the sofa and sleeping like a dead man. You slept there for half a day, and all that time I watched by the door that no one should disturb you. How happy I was! The more a girl can do, the greater her love will be; that is, I mean, the more she feels it.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
74Character: TrofimovAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 20 sec
Character: Trofimov — The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In The Cherry Orchard, Trofimov speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“The human race progresses, perfecting its powers. Everything that is unattainable now will some day be near at hand and comprehensible, but we must work, we must help with all our strength those who seek to know what fate will bring. Meanwhile in Russia only a very few of us work. The vast majority of those intellectuals whom I know seek for nothing, do nothing, and are at present incapable of hard work. They call themselves intellectuals, but they use "thou" and "thee" to their servants, they treat the peasants like animals, they learn badly, they read nothing seriously, they do absolutely nothing, about science they only talk, about art they understand little. They are all serious, they all have severe faces, they all talk about important things. They philosophize, and at the same time, the vast majority of us, ninety-nine out of a hundred, live like savages, fighting and cursing at the slightest opportunity, eating filthily, sleeping in the dirt, in stuffiness, with fleas, stinks, smells, moral filth, and so on... And it's obvious that all our nice talk is only carried on to distract ourselves and others. Tell me, where are those créches we hear so much of? and where are those reading-rooms? People only write novels about them; they don't really exist. Only dirt, vulgarity, and Asiatic plagues really exist.... I'm afraid, and I don't at all like serious faces; I don't like serious conversations. Let's be quiet sooner.”
MaleAdultOutsider
75Character: BorkinAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 19 sec
Character: Borkin — Ivanov
Anton Chekhov
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Ivanov, Borkin speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“No, seriously, shan't I marry Martha and halve the money with you? But no, why should I propose it? How can you understand? You say to me: "Stop talking nonsense!" You are a good man and a clever one, but you haven't any red blood in your veins or any--well, enthusiasm. Why, if you wanted to, you and I could cut a dash together that would shame the devil himself. If you were a normal man instead of a morbid hypochondriac we would have a million in a year. For instance, if I had twenty-three hundred roubles now I could make twenty thousand in two weeks. You don't believe me? You think it is all nonsense? No, it isn't nonsense. Give me twenty-three hundred roubles and let me try. Ofsianoff is selling a strip of land across the river for that price. If we buy this, both banks will be ours, and we shall have the right to build a dam across the river. Isn't that so? We can say that we intend to build a mill, and when the people on the river below us hear that we mean to dam the river they will, of course, object violently and we shall say: If you don't want a dam here you will have to pay to get us away. Do you see the result? The factory would give us five thousand roubles, Korolkoff three thousand, the monastery five thousand more.”
MaleMature adultProfessional
76Character: IvanoffAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 19 sec
Character: Ivanoff — Ivanov
Anton Chekhov
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In Ivanov, Ivanoff speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“No, this is not melancholy. It is ridiculous, is it? Yes, I am laughing, and if it were possible for me to laugh at myself a thousand times more bitterly I should do so and set the whole world laughing, too, in derision. A fierce light has suddenly broken over my soul; as I looked into the glass just now, I laughed at myself, and nearly went mad with shame. Melancholy indeed! Noble grief! Uncontrollable sorrow! It only remains for me now to begin to write verses! Shall I mope and complain, sadden everybody I meet, confess that my manhood has gone forever, that I have decayed, outlived my purpose, that I have given myself up to cowardice and am bound hand and foot by this loathsome melancholy? Shall I confess all this when the sun is shining so brightly and when even the ants are carrying their little burdens in peaceful self-content? No, thanks. Can I endure the knowledge that one will look upon me as a fraud, while another pities me, a third lends me a helping hand, or worst of all, a fourth listens reverently to my sighs, looks upon me as a new Mahomet, and expects me to expound a new religion every moment? No, thank God for the pride and conscience he has left me still. On my way here I laughed at myself, and it seemed to me that the flowers and birds were laughing mockingly too.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
77Character: Sir PeterAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 55 sec
Character: Sir Peter — The School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In The School for Scandal, Sir Peter speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“When an old Bachelor takes a young Wife--what is He to expect--'Tis now six months since Lady Teazle made me the happiest of men--and I have been the most miserable Dog ever since that ever committed wedlock. We tift a little going to church--and came to a Quarrel before the Bells had done ringing--I was more than once nearly chok'd with gall during the Honeymoon--and had lost all comfort in Life before my Friends had done wishing me Joy--yet I chose with caution--a girl bred wholly in the country--who never knew luxury beyond one silk gown--nor dissipation above the annual Gala of a Race-Ball--Yet she now plays her Part in all the extravagant Fopperies of the Fashion and the Town, with as ready a Grace as if she had never seen a Bush nor a grass Plot out of Grosvenor-Square! I am sneered at by my old acquaintance--paragraphed--in the news Papers--She dissipates my Fortune, and contradicts all my Humours--yet the worst of it is I doubt I love her or I should never bear all this. However I'll never be weak enough to own it.”
MaleMature adultNoble
78Character: Lady SneerwellAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 34 sec
Character: Lady Sneerwell — The School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In The School for Scandal, Lady Sneerwell speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“An old Batchelor as Sir Peter was having taken a young wife from out of the Country--as Lady Teazle is--are certainly fair subjects for a little mischievous raillery--but here are two young men--to whom Sir Peter has acted as a kind of Guardian since their Father's death, the eldest possessing the most amiable Character and universally well spoken of the youngest the most dissipated and extravagant young Fellow in the Kingdom, without Friends or caracter--the former one an avowed admirer of yours and apparently your Favourite the latter attached to Maria Sir Peter's ward--and confessedly beloved by her. Now on the face of these circumstances it is utterly unaccountable to me why you a young Widow with no great jointure--should not close with the passion of a man of such character and expectations as Mr. Surface--and more so why you should be so uncommonly earnest to destroy the mutual Attachment subsisting between his Brother Charles and Maria.”
FemaleMature adultNoble
79Character: CrabtreeAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 20 sec
Character: Crabtree — The School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In The School for Scandal, Crabtree speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Why one evening at Mrs. Ponto's Assembly--the conversation happened to turn on the difficulty of breeding Nova-Scotia Sheep in this country--says a young Lady in company I have known instances of it for Miss Letitia Shepherd, a first cousin of mine, had a Nova-Scotia Sheep that produced her Twins. What! cries the old Dowager Lady Dundizzy , has Miss Letitia Shepherd had twins --This Mistake--as you may imagine, threw the whole company into a fit of Laughing--However 'twas the next morning everywhere reported and in a few Days believed by the whole Town, that Miss Letitia Shepherd had actually been brought to Bed of a fine Boy and Girl--and in less than a week there were People who could name the Father, and the Farm House where the Babies were put out to Nurse.”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
80Character: CharlesAct 4 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 1 min 16 sec
Character: Charles — The School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In The School for Scandal, Charles speaks in Act 4 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Sir Peter--This is one of the smartest French Milliners I ever saw!--Egad, you seem all to have been diverting yourselves here at Hide and Seek--and I don't see who is out of the Secret!--Shall I beg your Ladyship to inform me!--Not a word!--Brother!--will you please to explain this matter? What! is Honesty Dumb too?--Sir Peter, though I found you in the Dark--perhaps you are not so now--all mute! Well tho' I can make nothing of the Affair, I make no doubt but you perfectly understand one another--so I'll leave you to yourselves.-- Brother I'm sorry to find you have given that worthy man grounds for so much uneasiness!--Sir Peter--there's nothing in the world so noble as a man of Sentiment!”
MaleAdultProfessional
81Character: OedipusAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Oedipus — Oedipus the King
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Oedipus the King, Oedipus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Aye, and on thee in all humility I lay this charge: let her who lies within Receive such burial as thou shalt ordain; Such rites 'tis thine, as brother, to perform. But for myself, O never let my Thebes, The city of my sires, be doomed to bear The burden of my presence while I live. No, let me be a dweller on the hills, On yonder mount Cithaeron, famed as mine, My tomb predestined for me by my sire And mother, while they lived, that I may die Slain as they sought to slay me, when alive. This much I know full surely, nor disease Shall end my days, nor any common chance; For I had ne'er been snatched from death, unless I was predestined to some awful doom. So be it. I reck not how Fate deals with me But my unhappy children—for my sons Be not concerned, O Creon, they are men, And for themselves, where'er they be, can fend. But for my daughters twain, poor innocent maids, Who ever sat beside me at the board Sharing my viands, drinking of my cup, For them, I pray thee, care, and, if thou willst, O might I feel their touch and make my moan. Hear me, O prince, my noble-hearted prince! Could I but blindly touch them with my hands I'd think they still were mine, as when I saw. What say I? can it be my pretty ones Whose sobs I hear? Has Creon pitied me And sent me my two darlings? Can this be?”
MaleMature adultOutsider
82Character: OedipusAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 9 sec
Character: Oedipus — Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O front of brass, thy subtle tongue would twist To thy advantage every plea of right Why try thy arts on me, why spread again Toils where 'twould gall me sorest to be snared? In old days when by self-wrought woes distraught, I yearned for exile as a glad release, Thy will refused the favor then I craved. But when my frenzied grief had spent its force, And I was fain to taste the sweets of home, Then thou wouldst thrust me from my country, then These ties of kindred were by thee ignored; And now again when thou behold'st this State And all its kindly people welcome me, Thou seek'st to part us, wrapping in soft words Hard thoughts. And yet what pleasure canst thou find In forcing friendship on unwilling foes? Suppose a man refused to grant some boon When you importuned him, and afterwards When you had got your heart's desire, consented, Granting a grace from which all grace had fled, Would not such favor seem an empty boon? Yet such the boon thou profferest now to me, Fair in appearance, but when tested false. Yea, I will proved thee false, that these may hear; Thou art come to take me, not to take me home, But plant me on thy borders, that thy State May so escape annoyance from this land.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
83Character: AntigoneAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 43 sec
Character: Antigone — Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O heed me, father, though I am young in years. Let the prince have his will and pay withal What in his eyes is service to the god; For our sake also let our brother come. If what he urges tend not to thy good He cannot surely wrest perforce thy will. To hear him then, what harm? By open words A scheme of villainy is soon bewrayed. Thou art his father, therefore canst not pay In kind a son's most impious outrages. O listen to him; other men like thee Have thankless children and are choleric, But yielding to persuasion's gentle spell They let their savage mood be exorcised. Look thou to the past, forget the present, think On all the woe thy sire and mother brought thee; Thence wilt thou draw this lesson without fail, Of evil passion evil is the end. Thou hast, alas, to prick thy memory, Stern monitors, these ever-sightless orbs. O yield to us; just suitors should not need To be importunate, nor he that takes A favor lack the grace to make return.”
FemaleAdultWorking class
84Character: CreonAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 39 sec
Character: Creon — Philoctetes
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Philoctetes, Creon speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Noble inhabiters of Attic ground I see as 'twere conceived within your eyes At mine approach some new engendered fear Nay, shrink not, nor let fall one fretful word. I bring no menace with me, for mine age Is feeble, and the state whereto I come Is mighty,--none in Hellas mightier,-- That know I well. But I am sent to bring By fair persuasion to our Theban plain The reverend form of him now present here. Nor came this mission from one single will, But the commands of all my citizens Are on me, seeing that it becomes my birth To mourn his sorrows most of all the state Thou, then, poor sufferer, lend thine ear to me And come. All Cadmus' people rightfully Invite thee with one voice unto thy home, I before all,--since I were worst of men, Were I not pained at thy misfortunes, sir, --To see thee wandering in the stranger's land Aged and miserable, unhoused, unfed, Singly attended by this girl, whose fall To such a depth of undeserved woe I could not have imagined! Hapless maid! Evermore caring for thy poor blind head, Roving in beggary, so young, with no man To marry her,--a mark for all mischance. O misery, what deep reproach I have laid On thee and me and our whole ill-starred race! But who can hide evil that courts the day? Thou, therefore, Oedipus, without constraint, Remove this horror from the sight of men By coming to the ancestral city and home Of thy great sires,--bidding a kind farewell To worthiest Athens, as is meet. But Thebes, Thy native land, yet more deserves thy love.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
85Character: WatchAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 37 sec
Character: Watch — Ajax
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Ajax, Watch speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I cannot tell. There was no mark to show-- No dint of spade, or mattock-loosened sod,-- Only the hard bare ground, untilled and trackless. Whoe'er he was, the doer left no trace. And, when the scout of our first daylight watch Showed us the thing, we marvelled in dismay. The Prince was out of sight; not in a grave, But a thin dust was o'er him, as if thrown By one who shunned the dead man's curse. No sign Appeared of any hound or beast o' the field Having come near, or pulled at the dead body. Then rose high words among us sentinels With bickering noise accusing each his mate, And it seemed like to come to blows, with none To hinder. For the hand that thus had wrought Was any of ours, and none; the guilty man Escaped all knowledge. And we were prepared To lift hot iron with our bare palms; to walk Through fire, and swear by all the Gods at once That we were guiltless, ay, and ignorant Of who had plotted or performed this thing. When further search seemed bootless, at the last One spake, whose words bowed all our heads to the earth With fear. We knew not what to answer him, Nor how to do it and prosper. He advised So grave a matter must not be concealed, But instantly reported to the King. Well, this prevailed, and the lot fell on me, Unlucky man! to be the ministrant Of this fair service. So I am present here, Against my will and yours, I am sure of that. None love the bringer of unwelcome news.”
MaleYoung adultProfessional
86Character: TeiresiasAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 35 sec
Character: Teiresias — Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Oedipus at Colonus, Teiresias speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“The divination of my arts shall tell. Sitting upon my throne of augury, As is my wont, where every fowl of heaven Find harborage, upon mine ears was borne A jargon strange of twitterings, hoots, and screams; So knew I that each bird at the other tare With bloody talons, for the whirr of wings Could signify naught else. Perturbed in soul, I straight essayed the sacrifice by fire On blazing altars, but the God of Fire Came not in flame, and from the thigh bones dripped And sputtered in the ashes a foul ooze; Gall-bladders cracked and spurted up: the fat Melted and fell and left the thigh bones bare. Such are the signs, taught by this lad, I read— As I guide others, so the boy guides me— The frustrate signs of oracles grown dumb. O King, thy willful temper ails the State, For all our shrines and altars are profaned By what has filled the maw of dogs and crows, The flesh of Oedipus' unburied son. Therefore the angry gods abominate Our litanies and our burnt offerings; Therefore no birds trill out a happy note, Gorged with the carnival of human gore. O ponder this, my son. To err is common To all men, but the man who having erred Hugs not his errors, but repents and seeks The cure, is not a wastrel nor unwise. No fool, the saw goes, like the obstinate fool. Let death disarm thy vengeance. O forbear To vex the dead. What glory wilt thou win By slaying twice the slain? I mean thee well; Counsel's most welcome if I promise gain.”
MaleAdultRoyalty
87Character: GuardAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 30 sec
Character: Guard — Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Oedipus at Colonus, Guard speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“It happened thus. No sooner had we come, Driven from thy presence by those awful threats, Than straight we swept away all trace of dust, And bared the clammy body. Then we sat High on the ridge to windward of the stench, While each man kept he fellow alert and rated Roundly the sluggard if he chanced to nap. So all night long we watched, until the sun Stood high in heaven, and his blazing beams Smote us. A sudden whirlwind then upraised A cloud of dust that blotted out the sky, And swept the plain, and stripped the woodlands bare, And shook the firmament. We closed our eyes And waited till the heaven-sent plague should pass. At last it ceased, and lo! there stood this maid. A piercing cry she uttered, sad and shrill, As when the mother bird beholds her nest Robbed of its nestlings; even so the maid Wailed as she saw the body stripped and bare, And cursed the ruffians who had done this deed. Anon she gathered handfuls of dry dust, Then, holding high a well-wrought brazen urn, Thrice on the dead she poured a lustral stream. We at the sight swooped down on her and seized Our quarry. Undismayed she stood, and when We taxed her with the former crime and this, She disowned nothing. I was glad—and grieved; For 'tis most sweet to 'scape oneself scot-free, And yet to bring disaster to a friend Is grievous. Take it all in all, I deem A man's first duty is to serve himself.”
MaleMature adultNoble
88Character: CreonAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 17 sec
Character: Creon — Oedipus at Colonus
Sophocles
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Oedipus at Colonus, Creon speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Burghers, my noble friends, ye take alarm At my approach , Fear nothing and refrain from angry words. I come with no ill purpose; I am old, And know the city whither I am come, Without a peer amongst the powers of Greece. It was by reason of my years that I Was chosen to persuade your guest and bring Him back to Thebes; not the delegate Of one man, but commissioned by the State, Since of all Thebans I have most bewailed, Being his kinsman, his most grievous woes. O listen to me, luckless Oedipus, Come home! The whole Cadmeian people claim With right to have thee back, I most of all, For most of all I mourn for thy misfortunes, seeing thee An aged outcast, wandering on and on, A beggar with one handmaid for thy stay. Ah! who had e'er imagined she could fall To such a depth of misery as this, To tend in penury thy stricken frame, A virgin ripe for wedlock, but unwed, A prey for any wanton ravisher? Seems it not cruel this reproach I cast On thee and on myself and all the race? Aye, but an open shame cannot be hid. Hide it, O hide it, Oedipus, thou canst. O, by our fathers' gods, consent I pray; Come back to Thebes, come to thy father's home, Bid Athens, as is meet, a fond farewell; Thebes thy old foster-mother claims thee first.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
89Character: PrometheusAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 51 sec
Character: Prometheus — Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“And yet shall Zeus, for all his stubborn pride, Be brought to low estate! aha, he schemes Such wedlock as shall bring his doom on him, Flung from his kingship to oblivion's lap! Ay, then the curse his father Cronos spake As he fell helpless from his agelong throne, Shall be fulfilled unto the utterance! No god but I can manifest to him A rescue from such ruin as impends— I know it, I, and how it may be foiled. Go to, then, let him sit and blindly trust His skyey rumblings, for security, And wave his levin with its blast of flame! All will avail him not, nor bar his fall Down to dishonour vile, intolerable So strong a wrestler is he moulding now To his own proper downfall—yea, a shape Portentous and unconquerably huge, Who truly shall reveal a flame more strong Than is the lightning, and a crash of sound More loud than thunder, and shall dash to nought Poseidon's trident-spear, the ocean-bane That makes the firm earth quiver. Let Zeus strike Once on this rock, he speedily shall learn How far the fall from power to slavery!”
MaleMature adultOutsider
90Character: AntigoneAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 49 sec
Character: Antigone — Seven Against Thebes
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Seven Against Thebes, Antigone speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“And I—to those who make such claims of rule In Cadmus' town—I, though no other help, I, I will bury this my brother's corse And risk your wrath and what may come of it! It shames me not to face the State, and set Will against power, rebellion resolute: Deep in my heart is set my sisterhood, My common birthright with my brothers, born All of one womb, her children who, for woe, Brought forth sad offspring to a sire ill-starred. Therefore, my soul! take thou thy willing share, In aid of him who now can will no more, Against this outrage: be a sister true, While yet thou livest, to a brother dead! Him never shall the wolves with ravening maw Rend and devour: I do forbid the thought! I for him, I—albeit a woman weak— In place of burial-pit, will give him rest By this protecting handful of light dust Which, in the lap of this poor linen robe, I bear to hallow and bestrew his corpse With the due covering. Let none gainsay! Courage and craft shall arm me, this to do.”
FemaleMature adultProfessional
91Character: ClytemnestraAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 40 sec
Character: Clytemnestra — Agamemnon
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Agamemnon, Clytemnestra speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“A Fire-god, from Mount Ida scattering flame. Whence starting, beacon after beacon burst In flaming message hitherward. Ida first Told Hermes' Lemnian Rock, whose answering sign Was caught by towering Athos, the divine, With pines immense—yea, fishes of the night Swam skyward, drunken with that leaping light, Which swelled like some strange sun, till dim and far Makistos' watchmen marked a glimmering star; They, nowise loath nor idly slumber-won, Spring up to hurl the fiery message on, And a far light beyond the Eurîpus tells That word hath reached Messapion's sentinels. They beaconed back, then onward with a high Heap of dead heather flaming to the sky. And onward still, not failing nor aswoon, Across the Asôpus like a beaming moon The great word leapt, and on Kithairon's height Uproused a new relay of racing light. His watchers knew the wandering flame, nor hid Their welcome, burning higher than was bid. Out over Lake Gorgôpis then it floats, To Aigiplanctos, waking the wild goats, Crying for "Fire, more Fire!" And fire was reared, Stintless and high, a stormy streaming beard, That waved in flame beyond the promontory Rock-ridged, that watches the Saronian sea, Kindling the night: then one short swoop to catch The Spider's Crag, our city's tower of watch; Whence hither to the Atreidae's roof it came, A light true-fathered of Idaean flame. Torch-bearer after torch-bearer, behold The tale thereof in stations manifold, Each one by each made perfect ere it passed, And Victory in the first as in the last. These be my proofs and tokens that my lord From Troy hath spoke to me a burning word.”
FemaleYoung adultRoyalty
92Character: The SpyAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 40 sec
Character: The Spy — Seven Against Thebes
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Seven Against Thebes, The Spy speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Eteocles, high king of Cadmus' folk, I stand here with news certified and sure From Argos' camp, things by myself descried. Seven warriors yonder, doughty chiefs of might, Into the crimsoned concave of a shield Have shed a bull's blood, and, with hands immersed Into the gore of sacrifice, have sworn By Ares, lord of fight, and by thy name, Blood-lapping Terror, _Let our oath be heard— Either to raze the walls, make void the hold Of Cadmus—strive his children as they may— Or, dying here, to make the foemen's land With blood impasted_. Then, as memory's gift Unto their parents at the far-off home, Chaplets they hung upon Adrastus' car, With eyes tear-dropping, but no word of moan. For their steeled spirit glowed with high resolve, As lions pant, with battle in their eyes. For them, no weak alarm delays the clear Issues of death or life! I parted thence Even as they cast the lots, how each should lead, Against which gate, his serried company. Rank then thy bravest, with what speed thou may'st, Hard by the gates, to dash on them, for now, Full-armed, the onward ranks of Argos come! The dust whirls up, and from their panting steeds White foamy flakes like snow bedew the plain. Thou therefore, chieftain! like a steersman skilled, Enshield the city's bulwarks, ere the blast Of war comes darting on them! hark, the roar Of the great landstorm with its waves of men! Take Fortune by the forelock! for the rest, By yonder dawn-light will I scan the field Clear and aright, and surety of my word Shall keep thee scatheless of the coming storm.”
MaleAdultNoble
93Character: HeraldAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 38 sec
Character: Herald — Agamemnon
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Agamemnon, Herald speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Even so! 'Tis past, and all is victory. And, for our life in those long years, there were Doubtless some grievous days, and some were fair. Who but a god goes woundless all his way?…. Oh, could I tell the sick toil of the day, The evil nights, scant decks ill-blanketed; The rage and cursing when our daily bread Came not! And then on land 'twas worse than all. Our quarters close beneath the enemy's wall; And rain—and from the ground the river dew— Wet, always wet! Into our clothes it grew, Plague-like, and bred foul beasts in every hair. Would I could tell how ghastly midwinter Stole down from Ida till the birds dropped dead! Or the still heat, when on his noonday bed The breathless blue sea sank without a wave!…. Why think of it? They are past and in the grave, All those long troubles. For I think the slain Care little if they sleep or rise again; And we, the living, wherefore should we ache With counting all our lost ones, till we wake The old malignant fortunes? If Good-bye Comes from their side, Why, let them go, say I. Surely for us, who live, good doth prevail Unchallenged, with no wavering of the scale; Wherefore we vaunt unto these shining skies, As wide o'er sea and land our glory flies: "By men of Argolis who conquered Troy, These spoils, a memory and an ancient joy, Are nailed in the gods' houses throughout Greece." Which whoso readeth shall with praise increase Our land, our kings, and God's grace manifold Which made these marvels be.—My tale is told.”
MaleMature adultWorking class
94Character: HermesAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 37 sec
Character: Hermes — Prometheus Bound
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Prometheus Bound, Hermes speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“So, I shall speak, whate'er I speak, in vain! No prayer can melt or soften thy resolve; But, as a colt new-harnessed champs the bit, Thou strivest and art restive to the rein. But all too feeble is the stratagem In which thou art so confident: for know That strong self-will is weak and less than nought In one more proud than wise. Bethink thee now— If these my words thou shouldest disregard— What storm, what might as of a great third wave Shall dash thy doom upon thee, past escape! First shall the Sire, with thunder and the flame Of lightning, rend the crags of this ravine, And in the shattered mass o'erwhelm thy form, Immured and morticed in a clasping rock. Thence, after age on age of durance done, Back to the daylight shall thou come, and there The eagle-hound of Zeus, red-ravening, fell With greed, shall tatter piecemeal all thy flesh To shreds and ragged vestiges of form— Yea, an unbidden guest, a day-long bane, That feeds, and feeds—yea, he shall gorge his fill On blackened fragments, from thy vitals gnawed. Look for no respite from that agony Until some other deity be found, Ready to bear for thee the brunt of doom, Choosing to pass into the lampless world Of Hades and the murky depths of hell. Hereat, advise thee! 'tis no feigned threat Whereof I warn thee, but an o'er-true tale. The lips of Zeus know nought of lying speech, But wreak in action all their words foretell. Therefore do thou look warily, and deem Prudence a better saviour than self-will.”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
95Character: CassandraAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 33 sec
Character: Cassandra — Agamemnon
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Agamemnon, Cassandra speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Oh, oh! Agony, agony! Again the awful pains of prophecy Are on me, maddening as they fall…. Ye see them there … beating against the wall? So young … like shapes that gather in a dream … Slain by a hand they loved. Children they seem, Murdered … and in their hands they bear baked meat: I think it is themselves. Yea, flesh; I see it; And inward parts…. Oh, what a horrible load To carry! And their father drank their blood. From these, I warn ye, vengeance broodeth still, A lion's rage, which goes not forth to kill But lurketh in his lair, watching the high Hall of my war-gone master … Master? Aye; Mine, mine! The yoke is nailed about my neck…. Oh, lord of ships and trampler on the wreck Of Ilion, knows he not this she-wolf's tongue, Which licks and fawns, and laughs with ear up-sprung, To bite in the end like secret death?—And can The woman? Slay a strong and armèd man? … What fangèd reptile like to her doth creep? Some serpent amphisbene, some Skylla, deep Housed in the rock, where sailors shriek and die, Mother of Hell blood-raging, which doth cry On her own flesh war, war without alloy … God! And she shouted in his face her joy, Like men in battle when the foe doth break. And feigns thanksgiving for his safety's sake! What if no man believe me? 'Tis all one. The thing which must be shall be; aye, and soon Thou too shalt sorrow for these things, and here Standing confess me all too true a seer.”
FemaleAdultProfessional
96Character: DanausAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 30 sec
Character: Danaus — The Suppliant Maidens
Aeschylus
· Classical
· SourceContext: In The Suppliant Maidens, Danaus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Children, be wary—wary he with whom Ye come, your trusty sire and steersman old: And that same caution hold I here on land, And bid you hoard my words, inscribing them On memory's tablets. Lo, I see afar Dust, voiceless herald of a host, arise; And hark, within their grinding sockets ring Axles of hurrying wheels! I see approach, Borne in curved cars, by speeding horses drawn, A speared and shielded band. The chiefs, perchance, Of this their land are hitherward intent To look on us, of whom they yet have heard By messengers alone. But come who may, And come he peaceful or in ravening wrath Spurred on his path, 'twere best, in any case, Damsels, to cling unto this altar-mound Made sacred to their gods of festival,— A shrine is stronger than a tower to save, A shield that none may cleave. Step swift thereto, And in your left hands hold with reverence The white-crowned wands of suppliance, the sign Beloved of Zeus, compassion's lord, and speak To those that question you, words meek and low And piteous, as beseems your stranger state, Clearly avowing of this flight of yours The bloodless cause; and on your utterance See to it well that modesty attend; From downcast eyes, from brows of pure control, Let chastity look forth; nor, when ye speak, Be voluble nor eager—they that dwell Within this land are sternly swift to chide. And be your words submissive: heed this well; For weak ye are, outcasts on stranger lands, And froward talk beseems not strengthless hands.”
MaleMature adultRoyalty
97Character: LysistrataAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 50 sec
Character: Lysistrata — Lysistrata
Aristophanes
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Lysistrata, Lysistrata speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“An easy task if the love's raging home-sickness Doesn't start trying out how well each other Will serve instead of us. But I'll know at once If they do. O where's that girl, Reconciliation? Bring first before me the Spartan delegates, And see you lift no rude or violent hands-- None of the churlish ways our husbands used. But lead them courteously, as women should. And if they grudge fingers, guide them by other methods, And introduce them with ready tact. The Athenians Draw by whatever offers you a grip. Now, Spartans, stay here facing me. Here you, Athenians. Both hearken to my words. I am a woman, but I'm not a fool. And what of natural intelligence I own Has been filled out with the remembered precepts My father and the city-elders taught me. First I reproach you both sides equally That when at Pylae and Olympia, At Pytho and the many other shrines That I could name, you sprinkle from one cup The altars common to all Hellenes, yet You wrack Hellenic cities, bloody Hellas With deaths of her own sons, while yonder clangs The gathering menace of barbarians.”
FemaleYoung adultNoble
98Character: MagistrateAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 2 sec
Character: Magistrate — Lysistrata
Aristophanes
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Lysistrata, Magistrate speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“By Poseidon, justly done! For in part with us The blame must lie for dissolute behaviour And for the pampered appetites they learn. Thus grows the seedling lust to blossoming: We go into a shop and say, "Here, goldsmith, You remember the necklace that you wrought my wife; Well, the other night in fervour of a dance Her clasp broke open. Now I'm off for Salamis; If you've the leisure, would you go tonight And stick a bolt-pin into her opened clasp." Another goes to a cobbler; a soldierly fellow, Always standing up erect, and says to him, "Cobbler, a sandal-strap of my wife's pinches her, Hurts her little toe in a place where she's sensitive. Come at noon and see if you can stretch out wider This thing that troubles her, loosen its tightness." And so you view the result. Observe my case-- I, a magistrate, come here to draw Money to buy oar-blades, and what happens? The women slam the door full in my face. But standing still's no use. Bring me a crowbar, And I'll chastise this their impertinence. What do you gape at, wretch, with dazzled eyes? Peering for a tavern, I suppose. Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart! I'll prise away myself too....”
MaleAdultWorking class
99Character: PorterAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 31 sec
Character: Porter — Lysistrata
Aristophanes
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Lysistrata, Porter speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Be off at once now or you'll be wailing Dirges for your hair. Get off at once, And see you don't disturb the Spartan envoys Just coming out from the splendid feast they've had. 1ST ATHENIAN I've never known such a pleasant banquet before, And what delightful fellows the Spartans are. When we are warm with wine, how wise we grow. 2ND ATHENIAN That's only fair, since sober we're such fools: This is the advice I'd give the Athenians-- See our ambassadors are always drunk. For when we visit Sparta sober, then We're on the alert for trickery all the while So that we miss half of the things they say, And misinterpret things that were never said, And then report the muddle back to Athens. But now we're charmed with each other. They might cap With the Telamon-catch instead of the Cleitagora, And we'd applaud and praise them just the same; We're not too scrupulous in weighing words.”
MaleMature adultWorking class
100Character: AeschAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 3 min 14 sec
Character: Aesch — The Frogs
Aristophanes
· Classical
· SourceContext: In The Frogs, Aesch speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“You, such stuff who compile, Dare my songs to upbraid; You, whose songs in the style Of Gyrene's embraces are made. So much for them: but still I'd like to show The way in which your monodies are framed. O darkly-light mysterious Night, What may this Vision mean, Sent from the world unseen With baleful omens rife; A thing of lifeless life, A child of sable night, A ghastly curdling sight, In black funereal veils, With murder, murder in its eyes, And great enormous nails? Light ye the lanterns, my maidens, and dipping your jugs in the stream, Draw me the dew of the water, and heat it to boiling and steam, So will I wash me away the ill effects of my dream. "God of the sea! My dream's come true. Ho, lodgers, ho, This portent view. Glyce has vanished, carrying off my cock, My cock that crew! O Mania, help! O reads of the rock Pursue! pursue! For I poor girl, was working within, Holding my distaff heavy and full, Twir-r-r-r-r-rling my hand as the threads I spin, Weaving an excellent bobbin of wool: Thinking 'To-morrow I'll go to the fair, In the dusk of the morn, and be selling it there.' But he to the blue upflew, upflew, On the lightliest tips of his wings outspread; To me he bequeathed but woe, but woe, And tears, sad tears, from my eyes o'erflow, Which I, the bereaved, must shed, must shed. O children of Ida, sons of Crete, Grasping your bows to the rescue come; Twinkle about on your restless feet, Stand in a circle around her home. O Artemis, thou maid divine, Dictynna, huntress, fair to see, O bring that keen-nosed pack of thine, And hunt through all the house with me. O Hecate, with flameful brands, O Zeus's daughter, arm thine hands, Those swiftliest hands, both right and left; Thy rays on Glyce's cottage throw That I serenely there may go And search by moonlight for the theft.".”
MaleYoung adultProfessional
101Character: MedeaAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 20 sec
Character: Medea — Medea
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Medea, Medea speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“'Tis not the first nor second time, O King, That fame hath hurt me, and come nigh to bring My ruin. . . . How can any man, whose eyes Are wholesome, seek to rear his children wise Beyond men's wont? Much helplessness in arts Of common life, and in their townsmen's hearts Envy deep-set . . . so much their learning brings! Come unto fools with knowledge of new things, They deem it vanity, not knowledge. Aye, And men that erst for wisdom were held high, Feel thee a thorn to fret them, privily Held higher than they. So hath it been with me. A wise-woman I am; and for that sin To divers ill names men would pen me in; A seed of strife; an eastern dreamer; one Of brand not theirs; one hard to play upon . . . Ah, I am not so wondrous wise!--And now, To thee, I am terrible! What fearest thou? What dire deed? Do I tread so proud a path-- Fear me not thou!--that I should brave the wrath Of princes? Thou: what has thou ever done To wrong me? Granted thine own child to one Whom thy soul chose.--Ah, out of my heart I hate; but thou, meseems, hast done thy part Not ill. And for thine houses' happiness I hold no grudge. Go: marry, and God bless Your issues. Only suffer me to rest Somewhere within this land. Though sore oppressed, I will be still, knowing mine own defeat.”
FemaleAdultOutsider
102Character: HecubaAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 4 min 9 sec
Character: Hecuba — The Trojan Women
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In The Trojan Women, Hecuba speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Let lie . . . the love we seek not is no love . . . This ruined body! Is the fall thereof Too deep for all that now is over me Of anguish, and hath been, and yet shall be? Ye Gods . . . Alas! Why call on things so weak For aid? Yet there is something that doth seek, Crying, for God, when one of us hath woe. O, I will think of things gone long ago And weave them to a song, like one more tear In the heart of misery. . . . All kings we were; And I must wed a king. And sons I brought My lord King, many sons . . . nay, that were naught; But high strong princes, of all Troy the best. Hellas nor Troaes nor the garnered East Held such a mother! And all these things beneath The Argive spear I saw cast down in death, And shore these tresses at the dead men's feet. Yea, and the gardener of my garden great, It was not any noise of him nor tale I wept for; these eyes saw him, when the pale Was broke, and there at the altar Priam fell Murdered, and round him all his citadel Sacked. And my daughters, virgins of the fold, Meet to be brides of mighty kings, behold, 'Twas for the Greek I bred them! All are gone; And no hope left, that I shall look upon Their faces any more, nor they on mine. And now my feet tread on the utmost line: An old, old slave-woman, I pass below Mine enemies' gates; and whatso task they know For this age basest, shall be mine; the door, Bowing, to shut and open. . . . I that bore Hector! . . . and meal to grind, and this racked head Bend to the stones after a royal bed; Torn rags about me, aye, and under them Torn flesh; 'twill make a woman sick for shame! Woe's me; and all that one man's arms might hold One woman, what long seas have o'er me rolled And roll for ever! . . . O my child, whose white Soul laughed amid the laughter of God's light, Cassandra, what hands and how strange a day Have loosed thy zone! And thou, Polyxena, Where art thou? And my sons? Not any seed Of man nor woman now shall help my need. Why raise me any more? What hope have I To hold me? Take this slave that once trod high In Ilion; cast her on her bed of clay Rock-pillowed, to lie down, and pass away Wasted with tears. And whatso man they call Happy, believe not ere the last day fall!”
FemaleMature adultNoble
103Character: HeraclesAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 39 sec
Character: Heracles — Alcestis
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Alcestis, Heracles speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Thou art my friend, Admetus; therefore bold And plain I tell my story, and withhold No secret hurt.--Was I not worthy, friend, To stand beside thee; yea, and to the end Be proven in sorrow if I was true to thee? And thou didst tell me not a word, while she Lay dead within; but bid me feast, as though Naught but the draping of some stranger's woe Was on thee. So I garlanded my brow And poured the gods drink-offering, and but now Filled thy death-stricken house with wine and song. Thou hast done me wrong, my brother; a great wrong Thou hast done me. But I will not add more pain In thine affliction. Why I am here again, Returning, thou must hear. I pray thee, take And keep yon woman for me till I make My homeward way from Thrace, when I have ta'en Those four steeds and their bloody master slain. And if--which heaven avert!--I ne'er should see Hellas again, I leave her here, to be An handmaid in thy house. No labour small Was it that brought her to my hand at all. I fell upon a contest certain Kings Had set for all mankind, sore buffetings And meet for strong men, where I staked my life And won this woman. For the easier strife Black steeds were prizes; herds of kine were cast For heavier issues, fists and wrestling; last, This woman.... Lest my work should all seem done For naught, I needs must keep what I have won; So prithee take her in. No theft, but true Toil, won her.... Some day thou mayst thank me, too.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
104Character: ApolloAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 30 sec
Character: Apollo — Alcestis
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Alcestis, Apollo speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Admetus' House! 'Twas here I bowed my head Of old, and chafed not at the bondman's bread, Though born in heaven. Aye, Zeus to death had hurled My son, Asclepios, Healer of the World, Piercing with fire his heart; and in mine ire I slew his Cyclop churls, who forged the fire. Whereat Zeus cast me forth to bear the yoke Of service to a mortal. To this folk I came, and watched a stranger's herd for pay, And all his house I have prospered to this day. For innocent was the Lord I chanced upon And clean as mine own heart, King Pheres' son, Admetus. Him I rescued from the grave, Beguiling the Grey Sisters till they gave A great oath that Admetus should go free, Would he but pay to Them Below in fee Another living soul. Long did he prove All that were his, and all that owed him love, But never a soul he found would yield up life And leave the sunlight for him, save his wife: Who, even now, down the long galleries Is borne, death-wounded; for this day it is She needs must pass out of the light and die. And, seeing the stain of death must not come nigh My radiance, I must leave this house I love. But ha! The Headsman of the Pit, above Earth's floor, to ravish her! Aye, long and late He hath watched, and cometh at the fall of fate. THANATOS; _a crouching black-haired and winged figure, carrying a drawn sword. He starts in revulsion on seeing_ APOLLO.”
MaleAdultOutsider
105Character: JasonAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 30 sec
Character: Jason — Medea
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Medea, Jason speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Thou living hate! Thou wife in every age Abhorred, blood-red mother, who didst kill My sons, and make me as the dead: and still Canst take the sunshine to thine eyes, and smell The green earth, reeking from thy deed of hell; I curse thee! Now, Oh, now mine eyes can see, That then were blinded, when from savagery Of eastern chambers, from a cruel land, To Greece and home I gathered in mine hand Thee, thou incarnate curse: one that betrayed Her home, her father, her . . . Oh, God hath laid Thy sins on me!--I knew, I knew, there lay A brother murdered on thy hearth that day When thy first footstep fell on Argo's hull. . . . Argo, my own, my swift and beautiful That was her first beginning. Then a wife I made her in my house. She bore to life Children: and now for love, for chambering And men's arms, she hath murdered them! A thing Not one of all the maids of Greece, not one, Had dreamed of; whom I spurned, and for mine own Chose thee, a bride of hate to me and death, Tigress, not woman, beast of wilder breath Than Skylla shrieking o'er the Tuscan sea. Enough! No scorn of mine can reach to thee, Such iron is o'er thine eyes. Out from my road, Thou crime-begetter, blind with children's blood! And let me weep alone the bitter tide That sweepeth Jason's days, no gentle bride To speak with more, no child to look upon Whom once I reared . . . all, all for ever gone!”
MaleMature adultProfessional
106Character: AnotherAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Another — Hippolytus
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Hippolytus, Another speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Who lingers in the road? Who espies us? We shall hide him in his house nor be bold. Let the heart keep silence that defies us; For I sing this day to Dionysus The song that is appointed from of old. Oh, blessèd he in all wise, Who hath drunk the Living Fountain, Whose life no folly staineth, And his soul is near to God; Whose sins are lifted, pall-wise, As he worships on the Mountain, And where Cybele ordaineth, Our Mother, he has trod: His head with ivy laden And his thyrsus tossing high, For our God he lifts his cry; "Up, O Bacchae, wife and maiden, Come, O ye Bacchae, come; Oh, bring the Joy-bestower, God-seed of God the Sower, Bring Bromios in his power From Phrygia's mountain dome; To street and town and tower, Oh, bring ye Bromios home." Whom erst in anguish lying For an unborn life's desire, As a dead thing in the Thunder His mother cast to earth; For her heart was dying, dying, In the white heart of the fire; Till Zeus, the Lord of Wonder, Devised new lairs of birth; Yea, his own flesh tore to hide him, And with clasps of bitter gold Did a secret son enfold, And the Queen knew not beside him; Till the perfect hour was there; Then a hornèd God was found, And a God of serpents crowned; And for that are serpents wound In the wands his maidens bear, And the songs of serpents sound In the mazes of their hair.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
107Character: OrestesAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 21 sec
Character: Orestes — Iphigenia in Tauris
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Iphigenia in Tauris, Orestes speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O God, where hast thou brought me? What new snare Is this?--I slew my mother; I avenged My father at thy bidding; I have ranged A homeless world, hunted by shapes of pain, And circling trod in mine own steps again. At last I stood once more before thy throne And cried thee question, what thing should be done To end these miseries, wherein I reel Through Hellas, mad, lashed like a burning wheel; And thou didst bid me seek ... what land but this Of Tauri, where thy sister Artemis Her altar hath, and seize on that divine Image which fell, men say, into this shrine From heaven. This I must seize by chance or plot Or peril--clearer word was uttered not-- And bear to Attic earth. If this be done, I should have peace from all my malison. Lo, I have done thy will. I have pierced the seas Where no Greek man may live.--Ho, Pylades, Sole sharer of my quest: hast seen it all? What can we next? Thou seest this circuit wall Enormous? Must we climb the public stair, With all men watching? Shall we seek somewhere Some lock to pick, some secret bolt or bar-- Of all which we know nothing? Where we are, If one man mark us, if they see us prize The gate, or think of entrance anywise, 'Tis death.--We still have time to fly for home: Back to the galley quick, ere worse things come!”
MaleAdultNoble
108Character: IphigeniaAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 10 sec
Character: Iphigenia — Iphigenia in Tauris
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Iphigenia in Tauris, Iphigenia speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“From the beginning the Spirit of my life Was an evil spirit. Alas for my mother's zone, And the night that bare me! From the beginning Strife, As a book to read, Fate gave me for mine own. They wooed a bride for the strikers down of Troy-- Thy first-born, Mother: was it for this, thy prayer?-- A hind of slaughter to die in a father's snare, Gift of a sacrifice where none hath joy. They set me on a royal wane; Down the long sand they led me on, A bride new-decked, a bride of bane, In Aulis to the Nereid's son. And now estranged for evermore Beyond the far estranging foam I watch a flat and herbless shore, Unloved, unchilded, without home Or city: never more to meet For Hera's dance with Argive maids, Nor round the loom 'mid singing sweet Make broideries and storied braids, Of writhing giants overthrown And clear-eyed Pallas ... All is gone! Red hands and ever-ringing ears: The blood of men that friendless die, The horror of the strangers' cry Unheard, the horror of their tears. But now, let even that have rest: I weep for him in Argos slain, The brother whom I knew, Ah me, A babe, a flower; and yet to be-- There on his mother's arms and breast-- The crowned Orestes, lord of men!”
FemaleYoung adultWorking class
109Character: CadmusAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 5 sec
Character: Cadmus — Hippolytus
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Hippolytus, Cadmus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“He made him like to you, adoring not The God; who therefore to one bane hath brought You and this body, wrecking all our line, And me. Aye, no man-child was ever mine; And now this first-fruit of the flesh of thee, Sad woman, foully here and frightfully Lies murdered! Whom the house looked up unto, O Child, my daughter's child! who heldest true My castle walls; and to the folk a name Of fear thou wast; and no man sought to shame My grey beard, when they knew that thou wast there, Else had they swift reward!--And now I fare Forth in dishonour, outcast, I, the great Cadmus, who sowed the seed-rows of this state Of Thebes, and reaped the harvest wonderful. O my belovèd, though thy heart is dull In death, O still belovèd, and alway Beloved! Never more, then, shalt thou lay Thine hand to this white beard, and speak to me Thy "Mother's Father"; ask "Who wrongeth thee? Who stints thine honour, or with malice stirs Thine heart? Speak, and I smite thine injurers!" But now--woe, woe, to me and thee also, Woe to thy mother and her sisters, woe Alway! Oh, whoso walketh not in dread Of Gods, let him but look on this man dead!”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
110Character: DionysusAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 55 sec
Character: Dionysus — Hippolytus
Euripides
· Classical
· SourceContext: In Hippolytus, Dionysus speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Behold, God's Son is come unto this land Of heaven's hot splendour lit to life, when she Of Thebes, even I, Dionysus, whom the brand Who bore me, Cadmus' daughter Semelê, Died here. So, changed in shape from God to man, I walk again by Dirce's streams and scan Ismenus' shore. There by the castle side I see her place, the Tomb of the Lightning's Bride, The wreck of smouldering chambers, and the great Faint wreaths of fire undying--as the hate Dies not, that Hera held for Semelê. Aye, Cadmus hath done well; in purity He keeps this place apart, inviolate, His daughter's sanctuary; and I have set My green and clustered vines to robe it round Far now behind me lies the golden ground Of Lydian and of Phrygian; far away The wide hot plains where Persian sunbeams play, The Bactrian war-holds, and the storm-oppressed Clime of the Mede, and Araby the Blest, And Asia all, that by the salt sea lies In proud embattled cities, motley-wise Of Hellene and Barbarian interwrought; And now I come to Hellas--having taught All the world else my dances and my rite Of mysteries, to show me in men's sight.”
MaleAdultProfessional
111Character: LydusAct 3 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 1 min 44 sec
Character: Lydus — The Two Bacchises
Context: In The Two Bacchises, Lydus speaks in Act 3 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Itane oportet rem mandatam gerere amici sedulo, ut ipsus in gremio osculantem mulierem teneat sedens? nullo pacto res mandata potest agi, nisi identidem manus ferat ei ad papillas, labra a labris nusquam auferat? 480 Does executing this commission for his friend, and doing it zealously, call for his sitting down and holding the girl in his lap while she kisses him? Is there no way of his carrying out this commission save by his embracing her time and again in unseemly fashion and never taking his lips an inch from hers? nam alia memorare quae illum facere vidi dispudet: cum manum sub vestimenta ad corpus tetulit Bacchidi me praesente, neque pudere quicquam. quid verbis opust? mini discipulus, tibi sodalis periit, huic filius; nam ego illum periisse dico quoi quidem periit pudor. Why, I feel ashamed to mention other things I saw him do, dreadful, dreadful things, in my presence--and never a trace of shame about him. Why say more? My pupil, your chum, this father's son, has perished; for perished I say he has, when his sense of shame has perished.”
MaleMature adultRoyalty
112Character: Argument of the PlayAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 35 sec
Character: Argument of the Play — The Captives
Context: In The Captives, Argument of the Play speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“C aptust in pugna Hegionis filius; A lium quadrimum fugiens servus vendidit. P ater captivos commercatur Aleos, T antum studens ut natum captum recuperet; E t inibi emit olim amissum filium. I s suo cum domino veste versa ac nomine V t amittatur fecit: ipsus plectitur; E t is reduxit captum, et fugitivum simul, I ndicio cuius alium agnoscit filium. One of Hegio's sons has been taken prisoner in a battle with the Eleans; the other was stolen by a runaway slave and sold when he was four years old. The father, in his great anxiety to recover the captured boy, bought up Elean prisoners of war; and among those that he purchased was the son he had lost many years before. This son, having exchanged clothes and names with his Elean master, secured the latter's release, taking the consequences himself. This master of his returned, bringing Hegio's captive son, and along with him that runaway slave, whose disclosures led to the recognition of the other son.”
MaleYoung adultNoble
113Character: Argument of the PlayAct 5 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 1 min 29 sec
Character: Argument of the Play — The Pot of Gold
Context: In The Pot of Gold, Argument of the Play speaks in Act 5 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“A manti argento filio auxiliarier S ub imperio vivens volt senex uxorio. I taque ob asinos relatum pretium Saureae N umerari iussit servolo Leonidae. A d amicam id fertur. cedit noctem filius. R ivalis amens ob praereptam mulierem, I s rem omnem uxori per parasitum nuntiat. A ccurrit uxor ac virum e lustris rapit. An old gentleman, whose wife is the head of the household, desires to give his son financial support in a love affair. He therefore had some money, brought to Saurea in payment for some asses, counted out to a certain rascally servant of his own, Leonida. This money goes to the young fellow's mistress, and he concedes his father an evening with her. A rival of his, beside himself at being deprived of the girl, sends word, by a parasite, to the old gentleman's wife, of the whole matter. In rushes the wife and drags her husband from the house of vice.”
MaleAdultWorking class
114Character: ChrysAct 4 · Scene 9Estimated performance: 1 min 25 sec
Character: Chrys — The Two Bacchises
Context: In The Two Bacchises, Chrys speaks in Act 4 · Scene 9. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Nihil ego tibi hodie consili quicquam dabo, neque ego haud committam ut, si quid peccatum siet, fecisse dicas de mea sententia. verum, ut ego opinor, si ego in istoc sim loco, dem potius aurum quam illum corrumpi sinam. 1040 duae condiciones sunt: utram tu accipias vide: vel ut aurum perdas vel ut amator perieret. ego neque te iubeo neque veto, neque suadeo. Never a bit of advice will I give you this day! I'll take no chance of your saying, if anything goes wrong, that you did it at my suggestion. However, in my opinion, if I was in your place, I should rather give up the money than let him be debauched. There are two alternatives: see for yourself which to choose: you must either lose the money, or let our lover be forsworn. I do not order you, or forbid you, or urge you, either, not I.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
115Character: HegioAct 4 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 1 min 24 sec
Character: Hegio — The Captives
Context: In The Captives, Hegio speaks in Act 4 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Quanto in pectore hanc rem meo magis volato, tanto mi aegritudo auctior est in animo. ad illum modum sublitum os esse mi hodie! neque id perspicere quivi. quod cum scibitur, tum per urbem inridebor. The more I think it over, the sourer I feel. The idea of their playing upon me in that style to-day! And I couldn't see through it. When it gets known, I shall be the joke of the town. cum extemplo ad forum advenero, omnes loquentur: "hic illest senex doctus, quoi verba data sunt." sed Ergasilus estne his, procul quem video? conlecto quidem est pallio. quidnam acturust? The moment I appear at the forum they'll all be saying, "Here comes that smart old fellow that got humbugged." But isn't that Ergasilus I see over there? With his cloak all tucked up, too! Now what in the world is he going to do?”
MaleYoung adultProfessional
116Character: FaustAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 35 sec
Character: Faust — Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Faust, Part 1, Faust speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O happy he, who still renews The hope, from Error's deeps to rise forever! That which one does not know, one needs to use; And what one knows, one uses never. But let us not, by such despondence, so The fortune of this hour embitter! Mark how, beneath the evening sunlight's glow, The green-embosomed houses glitter! The glow retreats, done is the day of toil; It yonder hastes, new fields of life exploring; Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil, Upon its track to follow, follow soaring! Then would I see eternal Evening gild The silent world beneath me glowing, On fire each mountain-peak, with peace each valley filled, The silver brook to golden rivers flowing. The mountain-chain, with all its gorges deep, Would then no more impede my godlike motion; And now before mine eyes expands the ocean With all its bays, in shining sleep! Yet, finally, the weary god is sinking; The new-born impulse fires my mind,— I hasten on, his beams eternal drinking, The Day before me and the Night behind, Above me heaven unfurled, the floor of waves beneath me,— A glorious dream! though now the glories fade. Alas! the wings that lift the mind no aid Of wings to lift the body can bequeath me. Yet in each soul is born the pleasure Of yearning onward, upward and away, When o'er our heads, lost in the vaulted azure, The lark sends down his flickering lay,— When over crags and piny highlands The poising eagle slowly soars, And over plains and lakes and islands The crane sails by to other shores.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
117Character: WagnerAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 10 sec
Character: Wagner — Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Faust, Part 1, Wagner speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“To stroll with you, Sir Doctor, flatters; 'Tis honor, profit, unto me. But I, alone, would shun these shallow matters, Since all that's coarse provokes my enmity. This fiddling, shouting, ten-pin rolling I hate,—these noises of the throng: They rave, as Satan were their sports controlling. And call it mirth, and call it song! PEASANTS, UNDER THE LINDEN-TREE All for the dance the shepherd dressed, In ribbons, wreath, and gayest vest Himself with care arraying: Around the linden lass and lad Already footed it like mad: Hurrah! hurrah! Hurrah—tarara-la! The fiddle-bow was playing. He broke the ranks, no whit afraid, And with his elbow punched a maid, Who stood, the dance surveying: The buxom wench, she turned and said: "Now, you I call a stupid-head!" Hurrah! hurrah! Hurrah—tarara-la! "Be decent while you're staying!" Then round the circle went their flight, They danced to left, they danced to right: Their kirtles all were playing. They first grew red, and then grew warm, And rested, panting, arm in arm,— Hurrah! hurrah! Hurrah—tarara-la! And hips and elbows straying. Now, don't be so familiar here! How many a one has fooled his dear, Waylaying and betraying! And yet, he coaxed her soon aside, And round the linden sounded wide. Hurrah! hurrah! Hurrah—tarara-la! And the fiddle-bow was playing.”
MaleMature adultNoble
118Character: MephistophelesAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 8 sec
Character: Mephistopheles — Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Faust, Part 1, Mephistopheles speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Use well your time! It flies so swiftly from us; But time through order may be won, I promise. So, Friend , First, the . There will your mind be drilled and braced, As if in Spanish boots 'twere laced, And thus, to graver paces brought, 'Twill plod along the path of thought, Instead of shooting here and there, A will-o'-the-wisp in murky air. Days will be spent to bid you know, What once you did at a single blow, Like eating and drinking, free and strong,— That one, two, three! thereto belong. Truly the fabric of mental fleece Resembles a weaver's masterpiece, Where a thousand threads one treadle throws, Where fly the shuttles hither and thither. Unseen the threads are knit together. And an infinite combination grows. Then, the philosopher steps in And shows, no otherwise it could have been: The first was so, the second so, Therefore the third and fourth are so; Were not the first and second, then The third and fourth had never been. The scholars are everywhere believers, But never succeed in being weavers. He who would study organic existence, First drives out the soul with rigid persistence; Then the parts in his hand he may hold and class, But the spiritual link is lost, alas! , this Chemistry names, Nor knows how herself she banters and blames!”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
119Character: ValentineAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 2 sec
Character: Valentine — Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Faust, Part 1, Valentine speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“In this game let our Lord God be! What's done's already done, alas! What follows it, must come to pass. With one begin'st thou secretly, Then soon will others come to thee, And when a dozen thee have known, Thou'rt also free to all the town. When Shame is born and first appears, She is in secret brought to light, And then they draw the veil of night Over her head and ears; Her life, in fact, they're loath to spare her. But let her growth and strength display, She walks abroad unveiled by day, Yet is not grown a whit the fairer. The uglier she is to sight, The more she seeks the day's broad light. The time I verily can discern When all the honest folk will turn From thee, thou jade! and seek protection As from a corpse that breeds infection. Thy guilty heart shall then dismay thee. When they but look thee in the face:— Shalt not in a golden chain array thee, Nor at the altar take thy place! Shalt not, in lace and ribbons flowing, Make merry when the dance is going! But in some corner, woe betide thee! Among the beggars and cripples hide thee; And so, though even God forgive, On earth a damned existence live!”
MaleAdultOutsider
120Character: ManagerAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 55 sec
Character: Manager — Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Faust, Part 1, Manager speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“You two, who oft a helping hand Have lent, in need and tribulation. Come, let me know your expectation Of this, our enterprise, in German land! I wish the crowd to feel itself well treated, Especially since it lives and lets me live; The posts are set, the booth of boards completed. And each awaits the banquet I shall give. Already there, with curious eyebrows raised, They sit sedate, and hope to be amazed. I know how one the People's taste may flatter, Yet here a huge embarrassment I feel: What they're accustomed to, is no great matter, But then, alas! they've read an awful deal. How shall we plan, that all be fresh and new,— Important matter, yet attractive too? For 'tis my pleasure-to behold them surging, When to our booth the current sets apace, And with tremendous, oft-repeated urging, Squeeze onward through the narrow gate of grace: By daylight even, they push and cram in To reach the seller's box, a fighting host, And as for bread, around a baker's door, in famine, To get a ticket break their necks almost. This miracle alone can work the Poet On men so various: now, my friend, pray show it.”
MaleMature adultProfessional
121Character: PoetAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 41 sec
Character: Poet — Faust, Part 1
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
· Victorian
· SourceContext: In Faust, Part 1, Poet speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Go, find yourself a more obedient slave! What! shall the Poet that which Nature gave, The highest right, supreme Humanity, Forfeit so wantonly, to swell your treasure? Whence o'er the heart his empire free? The elements of Life how conquers he? Is't not his heart's accord, urged outward far and dim, To wind the world in unison with him? When on the spindle, spun to endless distance, By Nature's listless hand the thread is twirled, And the discordant tones of all existence In sullen jangle are together hurled, Who, then, the changeless orders of creation Divides, and kindles into rhythmic dance? Who brings the One to join the general ordination, Where it may throb in grandest consonance? Who bids the storm to passion stir the bosom? In brooding souls the sunset burn above? Who scatters every fairest April blossom Along the shining path of Love? Who braids the noteless leaves to crowns, requiting Desert with fame, in Action's every field? Who makes Olympus sure, the Gods uniting? The might of Man, as in the Bard revealed.”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
122Character: TartuffeAct 3 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 2 min 39 sec
Character: Tartuffe — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Tartuffe speaks in Act 3 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Though pious, I am none the less a man; And when a man beholds your heavenly charms, The heart surrenders, and can think no more. I know such words seem strange, coming from me; But, madam, I'm no angel, after all; If you condemn my frankly made avowal You only have your charming self to blame. Soon as I saw your more than human beauty, You were thenceforth the sovereign of my soul; Sweetness ineffable was in your eyes, That took by storm my still resisting heart, And conquered everything, fasts, prayers, and tears, And turned my worship wholly to yourself. My looks, my sighs, have spoke a thousand times; Now, to express it all, my voice must speak. If but you will look down with gracious favour Upon the sorrows of your worthless slave, If in your goodness you will give me comfort And condescend unto my nothingness, I'll ever pay you, O sweet miracle, An unexampled worship and devotion. Then too, with me your honour runs no risk; With me you need not fear a public scandal. These court gallants, that women are so fond of, Are boastful of their acts, and vain in speech; They always brag in public of their progress; Soon as a favour's granted, they'll divulge it; Their tattling tongues, if you but trust to them, Will foul the altar where their hearts have worshipped. But men like me are so discreet in love, That you may trust their lasting secrecy. The care we take to guard our own good name May fully guarantee the one we love; So you may find, with hearts like ours sincere, Love without scandal, pleasure without fear.”
MaleAdultNoble
123Character: DorineAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 35 sec
Character: Dorine — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Dorine speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Her case is nothing, though, beside her son's! To see him, you would say he's ten times worse! His conduct in our late unpleasantness Had won him much esteem, and proved his courage In service of his king; but now he's like A man besotted, since he's been so taken With this Tartuffe. He calls him brother, loves him A hundred times as much as mother, son, Daughter, and wife. He tells him all his secrets And lets him guide his acts, and rule his conscience. He fondles and embraces him; a sweetheart Could not, I think, be loved more tenderly; At table he must have the seat of honour, While with delight our master sees him eat As much as six men could; we must give up The choicest tidbits to him; if he belches, Master exclaims: "God bless you!"--Oh, he dotes Upon him! he's his universe, his hero; He's lost in constant admiration, quotes him On all occasions, takes his trifling acts For wonders, and his words for oracles. The fellow knows his dupe, and makes the most on't, He fools him with a hundred masks of virtue, Gets money from him all the time by canting, And takes upon himself to carp at us. Even his silly coxcomb of a lackey Makes it his business to instruct us too; He comes with rolling eyes to preach at us, And throws away our ribbons, rouge, and patches. The wretch, the other day, tore up a kerchief That he had found, pressed in the , Calling it a horrid crime for us to mingle The devil's finery with holy things.”
FemaleMature adultWorking class
124Character: Madame PernelleAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Madame Pernelle — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Madame Pernelle speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“There! That's the kind of rigmarole to please you, Daughter-in-law. One never has a chance To get a word in edgewise, at your house, Because this lady holds the floor all day; But none the less, I mean to have my say, too. I tell you that my son did nothing wiser In all his life, than take this godly man Into his household; heaven sent him here, In your great need, to make you all repent; For your salvation, you must hearken to him; He censures nothing but deserves his censure. These visits, these assemblies, and these balls, Are all inventions of the evil spirit. You never hear a word of godliness At them--but idle cackle, nonsense, flimflam. Our neighbour often comes in for a share, The talk flies fast, and scandal fills the air; It makes a sober person's head go round, At these assemblies, just to hear the sound Of so much gab, with not a word to say; And as a learned man remarked one day Most aptly, 'tis the Tower of Babylon, Where all, beyond all limit, babble on. And just to tell you how this point came in ... So! Now the gentlemen must snicker, must he? Go find fools like yourself to make you laugh And don't ... Daughter, good-bye; not one word more. As for this house, I leave the half unsaid; But I shan't soon set foot in it again, Come, you! What makes you dream and stand agape, Hussy! I'll warm your ears in proper shape! March, trollop, march!”
FemaleYoung adultOutsider
125Character: OrgonAct 1 · Scene 6Estimated performance: 2 min 26 sec
Character: Orgon — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Orgon speaks in Act 1 · Scene 6. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Ah! If you'd seen him, as I saw him first, You would have loved him just as much as I. He came to church each day, with contrite mien, Kneeled, on both knees, right opposite my place, And drew the eyes of all the congregation, To watch the fervour of his prayers to heaven; With deep-drawn sighs and great ejaculations, He humbly kissed the earth at every moment; And when I left the church, he ran before me To give me holy water at the door. I learned his poverty, and who he was, By questioning his servant, who is like him, And gave him gifts; but in his modesty He always wanted to return a part. "It is too much," he'd say, "too much by half; I am not worthy of your pity." Then, When I refused to take it back, he'd go, Before my eyes, and give it to the poor. At length heaven bade me take him to my home, And since that day, all seems to prosper here. He censures everything, and for my sake He even takes great interest in my wife; He lets me know who ogles her, and seems Six times as jealous as I am myself. You'd not believe how far his zeal can go: He calls himself a sinner just for trifles; The merest nothing is enough to shock him; So much so, that the other day I heard him Accuse himself for having, while at prayer, In too much anger caught and killed a flea.”
MaleAdultProfessional
126Character: ElmireAct 4 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 2 min 10 sec
Character: Elmire — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Elmire speaks in Act 4 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“If that refusal has offended you, How little do you know a woman's heart! How ill you guess what it would have you know, When it presents so feeble a defence! Always, at first, our modesty resists The tender feelings you inspire us with. Whatever cause we find to justify The love that masters us, we still must feel Some little shame in owning it; and strive To make as though we would not, when we would. But from the very way we go about it We let a lover know our heart surrenders, The while our lips, for honour's sake, oppose Our heart's desire, and in refusing promise. I'm telling you my secret all too freely And with too little heed to modesty. But--now that I've made bold to speak--pray tell me. Should I have tried to keep Damis from speaking, Should I have heard the offer of your heart So quietly, and suffered all your pleading, And taken it just as I did--remember-- If such a declaration had not pleased me, And, when I tried my utmost to persuade you Not to accept the marriage that was talked of, What should my earnestness have hinted to you If not the interest that you've inspired, And my chagrin, should such a match compel me To share a heart I want all to myself?”
FemaleMature adultRoyalty
127Character: CleanteAct 1 · Scene 6Estimated performance: 2 min 7 sec
Character: Cleante — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Cleante speaks in Act 1 · Scene 6. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“That is the usual strain of all your kind; They must have every one as blind as they. They call you atheist if you have good eyes; And if you don't adore their vain grimaces, You've neither faith nor care for sacred things. No, no; such talk can't frighten me; I know What I am saying; heaven sees my heart. We're not the dupes of all your canting mummers; There are false heroes--and false devotees; And as true heroes never are the ones Who make much noise about their deeds of honour, Just so true devotees, whom we should follow, Are not the ones who make so much vain show. What! Will you find no difference between Hypocrisy and genuine devoutness? And will you treat them both alike, and pay The self-same honour both to masks and faces Set artifice beside sincerity, Confuse the semblance with reality, Esteem a phantom like a living person, And counterfeit as good as honest coin? Men, for the most part, are strange creatures, truly! You never find them keep the golden mean; The limits of good sense, too narrow for them, Must always be passed by, in each direction; They often spoil the noblest things, because They go too far, and push them to extremes. I merely say this by the way, good brother.”
MaleYoung adultNoble
128Character: ValereAct 5 · Scene 6Estimated performance: 1 min 22 sec
Character: Valere — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Valere speaks in Act 5 · Scene 6. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“'Tis with regret, sir, that I bring bad news; But urgent danger forces me to do so. A close and intimate friend of mine, who knows The interest I take in what concerns you, Has gone so far, for my sake, as to break The secrecy that's due to state affairs, And sent me word but now, that leaves you only The one expedient of sudden flight. The villain who so long imposed upon you, Found means, an hour ago, to see the prince, And to accuse you By putting in his hands the private strong-box Of a state-criminal, whose guilty secret, You, failing in your duty as a subject, have kept. I know no more of it Save that a warrant's drawn against you, sir, And for the greater surety, that same rascal Comes with the officer who must arrest you.”
MaleAdultWorking class
129Character: Mr. LoyalAct 5 · Scene 4Estimated performance: 1 min 17 sec
Character: Mr. Loyal — Tartuffe
Moliere
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Tartuffe, Mr. Loyal speaks in Act 5 · Scene 4. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Why, we allow you time; And even will suspend until to-morrow The execution of the order, sir. I'll merely, without scandal, quietly, Come here and spend the night, with half a score Of officers; and just for form's sake, please, You'll bring your keys to me, before retiring. I will take care not to disturb your rest, And see there's no unseemly conduct here. But by to-morrow, and at early morning, You must make haste to move your least belongings; My men will help you--I have chosen strong ones To serve you, sir, in clearing out the house. No one could act more generously, I fancy, And, since I'm treating you with great indulgence, I beg you'll do as well by me, and see I'm not disturbed in my discharge of duty.”
MaleMature adultOutsider
130Character: MillaAct 4 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 1 min 27 sec
Character: Milla — The Way of the World
William Congreve
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In The Way of the World, Milla speaks in Act 4 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Trifles; as liberty to pay and receive visits to and from whom I please; to write and receive letters, without interrogatories or wry faces on your part; to wear what I please, and choose conversation with regard only to my own taste; to have no obligation upon me to converse with wits that I don't like, because they are your acquaintance, or to be intimate with fools, because they may be your relations. Come to dinner when I please, dine in my dressing-room when I'm out of humour, without giving a reason. To have my closet inviolate; to be sole empress of my tea-table, which you must never presume to approach without first asking leave. And lastly, wherever I am, you shall always knock at the door before you come in. These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into a wife.”
MaleYoung adultProfessional
131Character: PhaedraAct 3 · Scene 3Estimated performance: 2 min 18 sec
Character: Phaedra — Phaedra
Jean Racine
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Phaedra, Phaedra speaks in Act 3 · Scene 3. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Just Heav'ns! What have I done to-day? My husband comes, With him his son: and I shall see the witness Of my adulterous flame watch with what face I greet his father, while my heart is big With sighs he scorn'd, and tears that could not move him Moisten mine eyes. Think you that his respect For Theseus will induce him to conceal My madness, nor disgrace his sire and king? Will he be able to keep back the horror He has for me? His silence would be vain. I know my treason, and I lack the boldness Of those abandon'd women who can taste Tranquillity in crime, and show a forehead All unabash'd. I recognize my madness, Recall it all. These vaulted roofs, methinks, These walls can speak, and, ready to accuse me, Wait but my husband's presence to reveal My perfidy. Death only can remove This weight of horror. Is it such misfortune To cease to live? Death causes no alarm To misery. I only fear the name That I shall leave behind me. For my sons How sad a heritage! The blood of Jove Might justly swell the pride that boasts descent From Heav'n, but heavy weighs a mother's guilt Upon her offspring. Yes, I dread the scorn That will be cast on them, with too much truth, For my disgrace. I tremble when I think That, crush'd beneath that curse, they'll never dare To raise their eyes.”
FemaleAdultRoyalty
132Character: HippolytusAct 5 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 39 sec
Character: Hippolytus — Phaedra
Jean Racine
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Phaedra, Hippolytus speaks in Act 5 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Could I say more, Without exposing him to dire disgrace? How should I venture, by revealing all, To make a father's brow grow red with shame? The odious mystery to you alone Is known. My heart has been outpour'd to none Save you and Heav'n. I could not hide from you , all I fain would hide E'en from myself. But think under what seal I spoke. Forget my words, if that may be; And never let so pure a mouth disclose This dreadful secret. Let us trust to Heav'n My vindication, for the gods are just; For their own honour will they clear the guiltless; Sooner or later punish'd for her crime, Phaedra will not escape the shame she merits. I ask no other favour than your silence; In all besides I give my wrath free scope. Make your escape from this captivity, Be bold to bear me company in flight; Linger not here on this accursed soil, Where virtue breathes a pestilential air. To cover your departure take advantage Of this confusion, caused by my disgrace. The means of flight are ready, be assured; You have as yet no other guards than mine. Pow'rful defenders will maintain our quarrel; Argos spreads open arms, and Sparta calls us. Let us appeal for justice to our friends, Nor suffer Phaedra, in a common ruin Joining us both, to hunt us from the throne, And aggrandise her son by robbing us. Embrace this happy opportunity: What fear restrains? You seem to hesitate. Your interest alone prompts me to urge Boldness. When I am all on fire, how comes it That you are ice? Fear you to follow then A banish'd man?”
MaleYoung adultNoble
133Character: TheseusAct 3 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 2 min 38 sec
Character: Theseus — Phaedra
Jean Racine
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Phaedra, Theseus speaks in Act 3 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Why, what is this? What terror has possess'd My family to make them fly before me? If I return to find myself so fear'd, So little welcome, why did Heav'n release me From prison? My sole friend, misled by passion, Was bent on robbing of his wife the tyrant Who ruled Epirus. With regret I lent The lover aid, but Fate had made us blind, Myself as well as him. The tyrant seized me Defenceless and unarm'd. Pirithous I saw with tears cast forth to be devour'd By savage beasts that lapp'd the blood of men. Myself in gloomy caverns he inclosed, Deep in the bowels of the earth, and nigh To Pluto's realms. Six months I lay ere Heav'n Had pity, and I 'scaped the watchful eyes That guarded me. Then did I purge the world Of a foul foe, and he himself has fed His monsters. But when with expectant joy To all that is most precious I draw near Of what the gods have left me, when my soul Looks for full satisfaction in a sight So dear, my only welcome is a shudder, Embrace rejected, and a hasty flight. Inspiring, as I clearly do, such terror, Would I were still a prisoner in Epirus! Phaedra complains that I have suffer'd outrage. Who has betray'd me? Speak. Why was I not Avenged? Has Greece, to whom mine arm so oft Brought useful aid, shelter'd the criminal? You make no answer. Is my son, mine own Dear son, confederate with mine enemies? I'll enter. This suspense is overwhelming. I'll learn at once the culprit and the crime, And Phaedra must explain her troubled state.”
MaleYoung adultWorking class
134Character: OenoneAct 1 · Scene 5Estimated performance: 2 min 1 sec
Character: Oenone — Phaedra
Jean Racine
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Phaedra, Oenone speaks in Act 1 · Scene 5. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Dear lady, I had almost ceased to urge The wish that you should live, thinking to follow My mistress to the tomb, from which my voice Had fail'd to turn you; but this new misfortune Alters the aspect of affairs, and prompts Fresh measures. Madam, Theseus is no more, You must supply his place. He leaves a son, A slave, if you should die, but, if you live, A King. On whom has he to lean but you? No hand but yours will dry his tears. Then live For him, or else the tears of innocence Will move the gods, his ancestors, to wrath Against his mother. Live, your guilt is gone, No blame attaches to your passion now. The King's decease has freed you from the bonds That made the crime and horror of your love. Hippolytus no longer need be dreaded, Him you may see henceforth without reproach. It may be, that, convinced of your aversion, He means to head the rebels. Undeceive him, Soften his callous heart, and bend his pride. King of this fertile land, in Troezen here His portion lies; but as he knows, the laws Give to your son the ramparts that Minerva Built and protects. A common enemy Threatens you both, unite them to oppose.”
FemaleAdultOutsider
135Character: TheramenesAct 1 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 1 min 50 sec
Character: Theramenes — Phaedra
Jean Racine
· Restoration
· SourceContext: In Phaedra, Theramenes speaks in Act 1 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“The gods, dear prince, if once your hour is come, Care little for the reasons that should guide us. Wishing to shut your eyes, Theseus unseals them; His hatred, stirring a rebellious flame Within you, lends his enemy new charms. And, after all, why should a guiltless passion Alarm you? Dare you not essay its sweetness, But follow rather a fastidious scruple? Fear you to stray where Hercules has wander'd? What heart so stout that Venus has not vanquish'd? Where would you be yourself, so long her foe, Had your own mother, constant in her scorn Of love, ne'er glowed with tenderness for Theseus? What boots it to affect a pride you feel not? Confess it, all is changed; for some time past You have been seldom seen with wild delight Urging the rapid car along the strand, Or, skilful in the art that Neptune taught, Making th' unbroken steed obey the bit; Less often have the woods return'd our shouts; A secret burden on your spirits cast Has dimm'd your eye. How can I doubt you love? Vainly would you conceal the fatal wound. Has not the fair Aricia touch'd your heart?”
MaleMature adultProfessional
136Character: MauriceAct 2 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 26 sec
Character: Maurice — There Are Crimes and Crimes
August Strindberg
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In There Are Crimes and Crimes, Maurice speaks in Act 2 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“And what a morning after such a night! I feel as if it were the world's first day that is now being illumined by the rising sun. Only this minute was the earth created and stripped of those white films that are now floating off into space. There lies the Garden of Eden in the rosy light of dawn, and here is the first human couple--Do you know, I am so happy I could cry at the thought that all mankind is not equally happy--Do you hear that distant murmur as of ocean waves beating against a rocky shore, as of winds sweeping through a forest? Do you know what it is? It is Paris whispering my name. Do you see the columns of smoke that rise skyward in thousands and tens of thousands? They are the fires burning on my altars, and if that be not so, then it must become so, for I will it. At this moment all the telegraph instruments of Europe are clicking out my name. The Oriental Express is carrying the newspapers to the Far East, toward the rising sun; and the ocean steamers are carrying them to the utmost West. The earth is mine, and for that reason it is beautiful. Now I should like to have wings for us two, so that we might rise from here and fly far, far away, before anybody can soil my happiness, before envy has a chance to wake me out of my dream--for it is probably a dream!”
MaleYoung adultRoyalty
137Character: Miss JuliaAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 26 sec
Character: Miss Julia — There Are Crimes and Crimes
August Strindberg
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In There Are Crimes and Crimes, Miss Julia speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“SCENE (A large kitchen: the ceiling and the side walls are hidden by draperies and hangings. The rear wall runs diagonally across the stage, from the left side and away from the spectators. On this wall, to the left, there are two shelves full of utensils made of copper, iron, and tin. The shelves are trimmed with scalloped paper.) (A little to the right may be seen three fourths of the big arched doorway leading to the outside. It has double glass doors, through which are seen a fountain with a cupid, lilac shrubs in bloom, and the tops of some Lombardy poplars.) (On the left side of the stage is seen the corner of a big cook stove built of glazed bricks; also a part of the smoke-hood above it.) (From the right protrudes one end of the servants' dining-table of white pine, with a few chairs about it.) (The stove is dressed with bundled branches of birch. Twigs of juniper are scattered on the floor.) (Above the door hangs a big old-fashioned bell on a steel spring, and the mouthpiece of a speaking-tube appears at the left of the door.) (CHRISTINE is standing by the stove, frying something in a pan. She has on a dress of light-coloured cotton, which she has covered up with a big kitchen apron.) (JEAN enters, dressed in livery and carrying a pair of big, spurred riding boots, which he places on the floor in such manner that they remain visible to the spectators.).”
FemaleAdultNoble
138Character: GustavAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 11 sec
Character: Gustav — There Are Crimes and Crimes
August Strindberg
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In There Are Crimes and Crimes, Gustav speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“Oh, HELL! Then you had better take back your God--if you needs must have something to kow-tow to! You're a fine atheist, with all that superstition about woman still in you! You're a fine free-thinker, who dare not think freely about the dear ladies! Do you know what that incomprehensible, sphinx-like, profound something in your wife really is? It is sheer stupidity!--Look here: she cannot even distinguish between th and t. And that, you know, means there is something wrong with the mechanism. When you look at the case, it looks like a chronometer, but the works inside are those of an ordinary cheap watch.--Nothing but the skirts-that's all! Put trousers on her, give her a pair of moustaches of soot under her nose, then take a good, sober look at her, and listen to her in the same manner: you'll find the instrument has another sound to it. A phonograph, and nothing else--giving yon back your own words, or those of other people-- and always in diluted form. Have you ever looked at a naked woman-- oh yes, yes, of course! A youth with over-developed breasts; an under-developed man; a child that has shot up to full height and then stopped growing in other respects; one who is chronically anaemic: what can you expect of such a creature?”
MaleMature adultWorking class
139Character: JeanAct 4 · Scene 1Estimated performance: 2 min 7 sec
Character: Jean — There Are Crimes and Crimes
August Strindberg
· Modernist
· SourceContext: In There Are Crimes and Crimes, Jean speaks in Act 4 · Scene 1. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“I cannot! There will be barriers between us as long as we stay in this house--there is the past, and there is the count-—and I have never met another person for whom I felt such respect. If I only catch sight of his gloves on a chair I feel small. If I only hear that bell up there, I jump like a shy horse. And even now, when I see his boots standing there so stiff and perky, it is as if something made my back bend. It's nothing but superstition and tradition hammered into us from childhood--but it can be as easily forgotten again. Let us only get to another country, where they have a republic, and you'll see them bend their backs double before my liveried porter. You see, backs have to be bent, but not mine. I wasn't born to that kind of thing. There's better stuff in me--character--and if I only get hold of the first branch, you'll see me do some climbing. To-day I am a valet, but next year I'll be a hotel owner. In ten years I can live on the money I have made, and then I'll go to Roumania and get myself an order. And I may--note well that I say --end my days as a count.”
MaleYoung adultOutsider
140Character: HamletAct 1 · Scene 2Estimated performance: 2 min 29 sec
Character: Hamlet — Hamlet
William Shakespeare
· Elizabethan
· SourceContext: In Hamlet, Hamlet speaks in Act 1 · Scene 2. This is a single-character passage from the cited public-domain edition.
Full audition passage“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two: So excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on: and yet, within a month-- Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!-- A little month, or ere those shoes were old With which she follow'd my poor father's body, Like Niobe, all tears:--why she, even she-- O, God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer--married with my uncle, My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules: within a month: Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good: But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.”
MaleAdultProfessional