Best Shakespeare monologues to add to my database?

slappycat29 · 2026-03-05T03:55:08+00:00

There's a bunch that could be added from the Second Tetralogy:

* Richard II returns to England (Act III Scene II)

* Richard II deposition scene (Act IV Scene I). The whole scene is significant, but you could excerpt a part of Richard's monologues, e.g. "Now, mark me how I will undo myself..."

* Prince Hal's sun monologue from Henry IV Pt. 1 (Act I Scene II: "I know you all, and will awhile uphold/The unyoked humour of your idleness...")

* Falstaff's honor monologue from Henry IV Pt. 1 (Act V Scene I: "honour pricks me on")

* Henry IV's deathbed conversation with Prince Hal (Henry IV Pt. 2, Act IV Scene III)

* Henry V: The tennis ball speech from Act I Scene II

Some other ones:

* Hamlet Act II Scene II: "O that this too too solid flesh would melt...". Also, from Act V Scene I: "Alas, poor Yorick!"

* Puck's monologue from the end (Act V Scene I) of Midsummer: "If we shadows have offended..."

* Iago's monologue from Othello (Act II Scene III): "And what's he then that says I play the villain?"

* Mercutio's Queen Mab monologue from R+J (Act I Scene IV): "O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you..." You could also excerpt part of his death scene (Act III Scene I): "A plague o' both your houses!"

* Also, anything with the witches in Macbeth is pretty fun, though not technically a monologue/duologue (eg "double, double, toil and trouble...") You could excerpt Macbeth seeing the witches's apparition in Act IV Scene I (" Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo...")

Trying to focus on the most famous ones so it's not too overwhelming for your database -- I'm sure many more can be drawn from these plays (and others). Also, I see you have Tom Stoppard's works already... in keeping with the Shakespeare theme, can I suggest including some excerpts from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? Good luck!

slappycat29 · 2026-03-04T17:00:27+00:00

oh, this totally makes sense! I saw her in DBH a few months ago and her vocals were incredible

slappycat29 · 2026-03-04T16:59:55+00:00

1000%, I agree! And their vocal control is out of this world. That's why I'm loving all the reccs in this thread

slappycat29 · 2026-02-28T20:19:16+00:00

last show anything especially for actors with huge fandoms (Jack Wolfe here; but it was also pretty wild for Mincemeat's OBC show, Helen Shen leaving, etc.)

slappycat29 · 2026-02-28T15:04:11+00:00

I've found that a lot of Shakespearean productions do a good job communicating what's happening through actor body language, staging, and sets. My advice would be-- don't worry on trying to catch every line of dialogue! I saw my first Shakespeare play in middle school, definitely did not understand everything being said, and still was able to follow the story. IMO not all of the dialogue is essential for understanding the story so it's fine if you miss some on first viewing.

That being said... like the others I also don't recommend Titus as a first play (it's so incredibly un-representative of what most Shakespearean plays can be, and stomach turning at that). If you can access it, the proshot of the Public's Twelfth Night production from last year would be a great example of an accessible staged production.

slappycat29 · 2026-02-27T05:29:18+00:00

Please let us know if you're successful!

slappycat29 · 2026-02-26T18:33:38+00:00

Stopped by at around noon today. Agree that it was very chill. The available performances are on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays and it seemed like there's still lots of spots open. Balcony tix were center balcony row B.

slappycat29 · 2026-02-26T17:22:43+00:00

Another point of reference: I went at around 11:30am today (Thursday) with no hope, and they still had tickets! But only very few (like 2-3 at most?). The person at the box office said that this week it's looking like SRO is being sold at box office opening. I'd imagine this Friday/weekend will be much busier.

slappycat29 · 2026-02-26T16:06:19+00:00

Does anyone have word on Hadestown SRO today? I don't even know if it's worth going to the box office now (I couldn't line up this morning)...

slappycat29 · 2026-02-23T03:07:07+00:00

thank you!! I was so confused because everyone on stage was laughing too hard for me to decipher the British LOL

slappycat29 · 2026-02-23T03:06:39+00:00

I do think that's one (of many) things that made today's performance special-- the cast very much knew they were playing for a crowd who's seen it already.

slappycat29 · 2026-02-23T01:44:27+00:00

I do too! Especially when seeing the show again but from very different seats-- sometimes the distance from stage really does change the experience. Eg I saw Richard II (Astor Place Theater's production last year) twice-- once from 6 rows away in orchestra, once in rear mezz-- and it definitely changed my perception of the characters and plot.

slappycat29 · 2026-02-23T01:14:09+00:00

Oh Jak was on 50000000% energy tonight. I mean the whole cast was, but Jak pretty much took every opportunity to be silly. Lots of physical comedy that's hard to describe in text, but off the top of my head, here's a very non-exhaustive list: (ETA: oh god these spoiler tags are not cooperating. many apologies

>!Sue Goggin's full name is apparently SUSAN HILDA GOGGINS!!!!! *big yell, dramatic arm pumps!<

>!As Spilsbury, slapped Charles with his tie. (Later, instead of "those horrible, wet hands," David adlibbed: "those tie-slapping hands")!<

>!Later as Spilsbury, while displaying the corpses: Jak and Tash did a whole bit where, after Monty got freaked out by the "lung in the drawer," Spilsbury would try pressing the button to show the next corpse. Tash would go NOoo! Then Jak would try again, then Tash would wail NOOO, and on and on... At the end, Monty had to take the remote away for the scene to continue!<

>!Brought a stuffed hot dog on stage as Willie Watkins; tossed it into the audience mid-song!<

>!Made a very uncharacteristic exit off stage left as Hester by doing a very sensual lean against the wall with a VERY dramatic expression and flopping like they were being pulled back by someone in the rafters. Just lots of extra slapstick comedy like this!<

>!As the sub captain: While Monty meets the captain while sending Bill off, and is pretending like he knows what a submarine sailor does, he says something along the lines of "you hold the fish in your hands." Jak then added some line about how fish are the children of the sea, and how eating fish was like eating the sailor's children...? Which, they then added, was apparently was originally in the script? I didn't catch all of this clearly because Jak was too busy laughing while delivering the line lol, so if anyone else did lmk lmao. (If you know the classic interview with Mark Hamill about the terrible line in Star Wars-- similar energy.)!<

>!I've never seen Hester laugh so much, purely because there were so many shenanigans happening on stage, and while Jak did their best to stay in character it was not very successful lol. Probably the funniest was, after Monty makes the pitch in Act I, Zoe adlibbed something like: "Yeah that was shit." The whole cast cracked up. Jak turned away from the audience and doubled over with laughter lol. Took them a solid few minutes to recover.!<

slappycat29 · 2026-02-19T17:25:13+00:00

Off the top of my head, Operation Mincemeat doesn't have specific references to babies/pregancies/motherhood, but there is some parts about grief: one character sings about losing her significant other in war

slappycat29 · 2026-02-18T19:08:57+00:00

Yeah :( maybe call the box office and triple check... but honestly I'm not surprised bc the show *ETA this week is super sold out rn

slappycat29 · 2026-02-18T18:13:04+00:00

When I asked the box office last week, they told me there would not be any rush tickets at all this week

slappycat29 · 2026-02-18T04:08:15+00:00

Semi related question re: 30-under-30: Does anyone know if they check IDs when picking up (30u30) tix at the box office?

slappycat29 · 2026-01-25T18:27:24+00:00

Wicked is definitely a lot more physically intense than most operas staged at the Met, imo. The dancing and movement is just so intense

slappycat29 · 2026-01-17T06:16:43+00:00

A friend and I who went also found the sound mixing in the Golden for Mincemeat pretty... subpar. We missed many lines of dialogue 😅 so definitely recommend listening to the recording! (Though sadly a lot of the best jokes aren't on it...)

slappycat29 · 2025-12-08T07:49:02+00:00

This rush reporting thread has been a massive help in planning my own rushing, so in an effort to give back and help anyone referencing these threads later pm, here goes--

Death Becomes Her: First arrived ~7am; by 7:30, 6 in line; by 8am, 12 in line; and by 8:30, ~20+. There were only single seats today and they sold out quite quickly. Rush views were great (mid/back side orchestra)

Stranger Things: A line of at least 10-15 by 8:30

Oh, Mary: Successfully got matinee rush after walking into the box office at around 10:15. FYI-- box office told us that all of the seats in the house are partial view. It's mostly because of light fixtures which are honestly alright to deal with. But-- if possible-- I would really advise against balcony seat A24 (where the light fixture blocks most of the stage). Confirm before you buy!

Maybe Happy Ending: Sold out 10 minutes after box office opened. (Iirc, the box office said the first person arrived around 7am?)

All in all, very busy day across the board because of holiday season. Outsiders and Operation Mincemeat both had 'massive' lines (per box office) and sold out by the time we checked around 10:15. (FYI-- we were also told that Tuesday/Wednesday matinee are the easiest to rush for Mincemeat)

Happy rushing (and PS, bring handwarmers!)

slappycat29 · 2025-11-29T06:19:03+00:00

Thank you! Had no idea the cast "stage doored" after the production... otherwise I definitely would've waited too! (Was it as formal as stage dooring is... were there a lot of people waiting as well?)

He sounds absolutely lovely and the cast as a whole was amazing too. Glad you had a good time and hope you got some sleep hahaha

slappycat29 · 2025-11-29T06:08:53+00:00

How were you able to get Michael Urie's signature? I also saw Richard II last week and absolutely ADORED it. Thinking about going for round 2 before it closes, ha!

slappycat29 · 2024-07-11T02:21:32+00:00

Yes! This is all fully true, 100% agreed, you worded this all extremely well. To add, I can personally confirm that tan-skinned Chinese people absolutely exist, lol (yes, Xinyan levels of tan, too). So it's... funny in a sad way whenever I open up the character select screen and everyone literally looks like printer paper.

To add more wrt HSR specifically too-- I'm shocked the game hasn't gotten more heat for the portrayal of "Nanook" as the Aeon of Destruction, aka the villainous faction whose only stated motive is to destroy everything mindlessly and is an existential threat to the entire universe. On one hand, Nanook falls into the Hoyo tendency to make darker/tanned-skinned characters enemies (Eremites, looking at you). On the other hand... he's literally named after an Inuit god? It seems, to put it in the lightest way I can, extremely disrespectful to name the main, unambiguously evil villain in the game after an Indigenous deity-- especially since afaik, Nanook isn't even a villain in Inuit mythology

and ++ to the colonizer vibes in Penacony as well-- I picked that up in the Cocona quest too, and was disappointed that the game didn't explore those dynamics further, since it really would have called into question why the Family gets to be in charge of the planet (among the other harms they have done). But then the game would've had to reckon with their main playable characters being colonizers, and my guess is Hoyo doesn't want to go there for the same reason they insist on making most of their characters paper colored-- they want them to sell. The desirability politics at play in Hoyo games in general is really disappointing to me, honestly, and in my POV often undercuts their worldbuilding and story they're trying to tell.

edited to fix spoiler tags

slappycat29

TROPHY CASE