Scenes for two women: free acting scripts, shortest first
Two-person scenes carried by two women characters, from the plays in the library, each with the setup and the run time.
The Offbook team
Nov 11, 2026
Good scenes for two women are harder to find than they should be. Most classic plays give the big two-person scenes to a man and a woman, or to two men. The ones below are the exceptions, and several are among the best scenes their writers ever made: Nora telling her old friend the secret she is proud of, Mrs. Warren telling her daughter the truth, Hedda drawing out the woman she used to frighten at school.
Every scene comes from a play in the public domain, so the text is free to read, copy, and perform. Each entry has what is going on, where it sits in the play, how many words each part has, and how long it runs out loud.
The scenes, shortest first
Listed here: two-person scenes where both characters who carry the scene are women as the play writes them. Viola spends most of Twelfth Night disguised as a young man, but she is a woman, so her scene with Olivia is here. When someone else speaks once in the scene, the entry says so. For a group of women, see the three sisters on the night of the fire.
A two-person scene here is one that two characters carry; when someone else speaks once, the entry says so. Times are spoken words at 140 words a minute, stage directions removed, the same method as the play library.
Juliet waits for the Nurse’s news
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare · Act 2, Scene 5
Juliet sent the Nurse to Romeo at nine and has waited three hours to hear whether he will marry her. The Nurse is back, and complains about her aching bones before she gives the answer.
- Characters
- Juliet and Nurse
- Length
- About 4.8 minutes, 671 words
- Words per part
- Juliet 353 · Nurse 318
- Starts
- Juliet: “The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse; / In …”
- Ends
- Juliet: “Hie to high fortune! Honest nurse, farewell.”
Rosalind and Celia find the verses
As You Like It, William Shakespeare · Act 3, Scene 2
Someone has been hanging love poems to Rosalind on the trees of the forest. Celia knows it is Orlando and teases her cousin with it, while Rosalind, still disguised as a boy, fires question after question at her.
- Characters
- Rosalind and Celia
- Length
- About 4.8 minutes, 665 words
- Words per part
- Rosalind 406 · Celia 259
- Starts
- Celia: “Didst thou hear these verses?”
- Ends
- Rosalind: “’Tis he: slink by, and note him.”
Sonya and Yelena make peace
Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett · Act 2
Late at night, after a storm, Yelena asks her stepdaughter Sonya to stop being cold to her. They drink to their friendship, and Sonya, who loves the doctor Astrov, cannot stop talking about him.
- Characters
- Yelena and Sonya, with one speech for Watchman’s Voice
- Length
- About 4.9 minutes, 685 words
- Words per part
- Yelena 502 · Sonya 182
- Starts
- Yelena: “How long are you going to be sulky with me? We have …”
- Ends
- Yelena: “Don’t tap, the master is unwell.”
Antigone asks Ismene for help
Antigone, Sophocles, translated by Francis Storr · The opening, before the Chorus enters
Their two brothers have killed each other in battle, and Creon has forbidden anyone to bury one of them. Antigone asks her sister to help her bury him anyway; Ismene is afraid to defy the law.
- Characters
- Antigone and Ismene
- Length
- About 5.5 minutes, 772 words
- Words per part
- Antigone 458 · Ismene 314
- Starts
- Antigone: “Ismene, sister of my blood and heart, / See’st thou how Zeus …”
- Ends
- Ismene: “… mad endeavour, / Yet to thy lovers thou art dear as ever.”
The willow song
Othello, William Shakespeare · Act 4, Scene 3
Othello has ordered Desdemona to bed and told her to send Emilia away. As Emilia helps her undress, Desdemona sings the willow song and asks whether any wife would really betray her husband.
- Characters
- Desdemona and Emilia
- Length
- About 5.6 minutes, 789 words
- Words per part
- Desdemona 411 · Emilia 378
- Starts
- Emilia: “How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did.”
- Ends
- Desdemona: “… send, / Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!”
Free text of the play · Emilia’s monologue, “But I do think it is their husbands’ faults” · Desdemona’s part
Electra and Chrysothemis
Electra, Sophocles, translated by Francis Storr · Early in the play, after Electra’s lament with the Chorus
Electra mourns their father Agamemnon, murdered by their mother. Her sister Chrysothemis warns her that she will be sent to a dark dungeon if she keeps it up. Chrysothemis is carrying offerings from their mother to his tomb. Electra begs her to throw them away.
- Characters
- Electra and Chrysothemis, with one speech for Chorus
- Length
- About 5.8 minutes, 810 words
- Words per part
- Electra 416 · Chrysothemis 379
- Starts
- Chrysothemis: “I know her moods too well to take offence, / Nor had …”
- Ends
- Chrysothemis: “… I shall have cause / To rue my indiscretion soon or late.”
Dorine and Mariane
Tartuffe, Molière, translated by Curtis Hidden Page · Act 2, Scene 3
Orgon has just told his daughter Mariane she will marry Tartuffe, and she said nothing to stop him. Her maid Dorine scolds her for it, then pretends to agree that she should marry him, until Mariane begs for help.
- Characters
- Dorine and Mariane
- Length
- About 6.0 minutes, 843 words
- Words per part
- Dorine 548 · Mariane 295
- Starts
- Dorine: “Say, have you lost the tongue from out your head? / And …”
- Ends
- Dorine: “… some way. / To hinder this … But here’s Valère, your lover.”
The Duchess of Berwick brings news
Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde · Act 1
On Lady Windermere’s birthday, the gossiping Duchess of Berwick calls to tell her what all London is saying: her husband goes to see a Mrs. Erlynne continually and stays for hours, and someone has been giving that woman a great deal of money. The Duchess means it kindly, and does it in the worst possible way.
- Characters
- The Duchess of Berwick and Lady Windermere, with one speech for Lady Agatha
- Length
- About 6.4 minutes, 890 words
- Words per part
- The Duchess of Berwick 791 · Lady Windermere 97
- Starts
- The Duchess of Berwick: “Will you go out on the terrace and look at the sunset?”
- Ends
- The Duchess of Berwick: “… refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones. Agatha, darling!”
Viola brings Orsino’s message to Olivia
Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare · Act 1, Scene 5
Viola, disguised as the young man Cesario, has come to plead Orsino’s love to Olivia. Olivia will not love Orsino, and by the end she is taken with the messenger instead.
- Characters
- Viola and Olivia, with one speech for Maria
- Length
- About 7.0 minutes, 976 words
- Words per part
- Viola 555 · Olivia 412
- Starts
- Viola: “The honourable lady of the house, which is she?”
- Ends
- Viola: “… fervour, like my master’s, be / Placed in contempt! Farewell, fair cruelty.”
Free text of the play · Viola’s part
Mrs. Warren tells Vivie the truth
Mrs. Warren’s Profession, George Bernard Shaw · Act 2
Vivie, a clever, newly graduated young woman, has demanded to know who her father is and where her mother’s money comes from. Mrs. Warren tells her how she and her sister escaped the white lead factory and the scullery, and how she made her living.
- Characters
- Mrs. Warren and Vivie
- Length
- About 7.1 minutes, 999 words
- Words per part
- Mrs. Warren 881 · Vivie 118
- Starts
- Mrs. Warren: “My own opinions and my own way of life! Listen to her …”
- Ends
- Mrs. Warren: “… ourselves and get all the profits instead of starvation wages? Not likely.”
Portia and Nerissa sort the suitors
The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare · Act 1, Scene 2
By her dead father’s will, Portia must marry whichever suitor chooses the right one of three caskets. Her waiting-woman Nerissa names the lords who have come to try, and Portia mocks every one of them, until Nerissa mentions a Venetian called Bassanio.
- Characters
- Portia and Nerissa, with one speech for Servant
- Length
- About 8.2 minutes, 1,141 words
- Words per part
- Portia 791 · Nerissa 315
- Starts
- Portia: “By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great …”
- Ends
- Portia: “… we shut the gates upon one wooer, another knocks at the door.”
Gwendolen and Cecily take tea
The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde · Act 2
Gwendolen and Cecily meet for the first time and promise to be great friends, then discover they are both engaged to “Ernest” and fight it out over the tea things.
- Characters
- Gwendolen and Cecily, with one speech for Merriman
- Length
- About 9.7 minutes, 1,359 words
- Words per part
- Gwendolen 867 · Cecily 484
- Starts
- Cecily: “Pray let me introduce myself to you. My name is Cecily Cardew.”
- Ends
- Cecily: “… many other calls of a similar character to make in the neighbourhood.”
Hedda draws out Mrs. Elvsted
Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen, translated by Edmund Gosse and William Archer · Act 1
Mrs. Elvsted, a timid old schoolmate who was always afraid of Hedda, has come to town in a panic. Hedda sends her husband out of the room and coaxes the whole story from her: she has left her husband to follow the writer Eilert Lövborg, whom she helped to stop drinking.
- Characters
- Mrs. Elvsted and Hedda
- Length
- About 10.4 minutes, 1,455 words
- Words per part
- Mrs. Elvsted 864 · Hedda 591
- Starts
- Hedda: “There! We have killed two birds with one stone.”
- Ends
- Mrs. Elvsted: “Oh yes—yes! For heaven’s sake—!”
Nora tells Mrs. Linde her secret
A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp · Act 1
Nora’s old school friend Christine Linde, a widow who has had to work all her life, treats Nora like a child who knows nothing of hardship. Nora tells her what she is proud of: she secretly borrowed the money that saved her husband’s life, and has been paying it back without his knowledge.
- Characters
- Nora and Mrs. Linde
- Length
- About 10.5 minutes, 1,468 words
- Words per part
- Nora 1,214 · Mrs. Linde 254
- Starts
- Nora: “You ought not to be so superior.”
- Ends
- Nora: “… again! Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to be alive and be happy.”
Practice it out loud
A scene only comes alive when the other part answers you. If you do not have a scene partner tonight, upload the scene to Offbook as a PDF or text file and pick your role: realistic voices read every other part, and it listens through your microphone and plays the next cue when you finish your line.
You can hide your own lines as you learn them, or show only the first letters of each word. Want classical speeches instead? See the monologues with run times.
For more on rehearsing without a partner, read how to rehearse a scene alone and how to prepare a scene for acting class.
More scenes
- Scenes for two men
- Scenes for teens
- Every scene in the library: comedy, drama, and group scenes
- Monologues with run times and line-by-line guides
Questions actors ask
What is the shortest scene on this list?
Juliet waits for the Nurse’s news (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5), about 4.8 minutes of spoken text. The longest is Nora tells Mrs. Linde her secret (A Doll’s House, Act 1), about 10.5 minutes. Pauses, movement, and reactions add time to the spoken words.
What is a good scene for two women for acting class?
Pick a scene with two parts of similar size and one clear conflict. Dorine and Mariane from Tartuffe and Rosalind and Celia from As You Like It are short comedies; Sonya and Yelena from Uncle Vanya and Antigone and Ismene are short dramas. The words-per-part line on each entry shows how evenly the scene is shared.
Are there modern scenes for two women in the public domain?
Yes, from the turn of the twentieth century: Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler, Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest, and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. They play as modern scenes, in prose, with no verse to learn.
Keep reading
- Scenes for Two Men: Free Acting Scripts, TimedTwo-person scenes carried by two men characters, from the plays in the library, each with the setup and the run time.
- Acting Scripts to Practice: Free Two-Person ScenesReal scenes from classic plays, with the setup, the characters, where to find them, and how long each one runs.
- Tartuffe: every role by lines, words, and stage timeMolière. Line counts, scenes, and the longest speeches.
- Three-Person Scenes From Classic Plays: Seven Trios With Setups and Run TimesSeven scenes for three actors from Shakespeare, Molière, and Goldsmith, each with where it sits in the play, the setup, what each character wants, how the lines split, and how long it runs out loud, plus how to stage and rehearse a trio.