Classical Monologues for Teen Actors: Nine Speeches by Young Characters, All Under Two Minutes

The notice for the summer intensive, the arts high school, or the spring Shakespeare competition says “one classical monologue, under two minutes.” You’re fifteen. You search for classical monologues and get King Lear raging at a storm, Lady Macbeth calling on spirits, and a page of speeches by people three times your age.

You don’t need any of those. Shakespeare wrote a lot of teenagers and young people, and many of them have short, clear speeches with a single want and a listener in the room. Those are the parts that suit you, and they’re the kind of age-appropriate choice the audition guides below ask for.

The short version: pick a character who is young in the play, who wants one thing from one person (or from the audience), and whose speech runs well inside the time limit. Below are nine, grouped for young women, young men, and any actor, each with what just happened, what the character wants, our word count, and a run time. Every one is from a play you can read free online, and every line we quote is checked against a Project Gutenberg edition.

What a teen classical monologue needs

Start with age. The New York City public schools’ guide on how to prepare for a theater audition says the characters in your monologues should be within your age range and age appropriate. The New York State Theatre Education Association’s monologue audition tips put it another way: avoid characters whose age and life experience are way beyond yours.

The same NYC guide adds a warning worth taking seriously. It says Shakespeare and other classical verse is generally discouraged for its high school auditions unless you can show real ease with the language. So choose Shakespeare only when the notice asks for it, or when you understand every word. That’s why every pick below is plain about what’s happening, even where the verse is old.

Then length. NYC’s guide says most of its high school theater auditions ask for monologues of one to two minutes, and NYSTEA notes that most colleges set a limit of one or two minutes. UNCSA’s School of Drama, in its high school audition requirements, says an individual monologue may not exceed 90 seconds. Interlochen Arts Academy’s acting audition requirements ask for each piece to be less than two minutes, and suggest contrasts like verse and prose or classical and contemporary.

If you’re entering the English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition, the rules are tighter. Its 2025 student handbook says it is open to students in grades 9 through 12, that monologues come from the ESU’s own Monologue Packet of 15 to 22 lines each, and that students may pick any monologue regardless of gender. Check the current packet for your speech before you learn it, because no alterations are allowed.

A note on the numbers below. We counted the words ourselves in the public-domain text our play library uses, so treat them as approximate; your edition may differ by a word or two. Times are those counts at 140 words a minute, the middle pace of our monologue timer. Your own spoken run is the number that counts.

Speeches for young women

Juliet, “The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse” (dramatic, with a light touch)

From Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5, in the Gutenberg edition. Juliet is young even by the play’s standards; her father says early on, She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. She sent the Nurse to Romeo at nine to find out when and where he will marry her. It’s now noon, and the Nurse isn’t back. About 135 words up to the Nurse’s entrance, roughly 58 seconds.

What she wants: news, now. The speech is pure impatience, built on a clock (Is three long hours, yet she is not come) and ending in a grumble that old people act as if they were dead: slow, heavy and pale as lead. It’s a gift for a teen because the feeling is so familiar. Don’t play it as romantic longing. As a staging choice, play her like someone checking the window every five seconds.

Miranda, “If by your art, my dearest father” (dramatic)

From The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition. Miranda has grown up on an island with only her father, Prospero. Later in the scene, Prospero says that twelve years ago he was Duke of Milan, and that she was not Out three years old when they came to the island, so she is about fifteen. She has just watched a ship break apart in a storm and suspects her father caused it. About 111 words, roughly 48 seconds.

What she wants: for him to stop it. She’s arguing with the one person on earth she trusts, and she says plainly what it did to her, ending on the drowned sailors: Poor souls, they perish’d. It’s short, so it fits the tightest limit, and the listener is right in front of her. Decide what Prospero’s face does when she says she’d have sunk the sea herself if she had the power.

Hermia, “Puppet! Why so?” (comedic)

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition. Overnight, thanks to a fairy’s love potion, both young men who loved Hermia now love her friend Helena instead. Helena, who is taller, has just called her a puppet. About 84 words, roughly 36 seconds.

What she wants: to get her hands on Helena. Hermia works out, live, that the insult is about her height, and her fury builds line by line to thou painted maypole and a threat that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. It’s short, so it fits the tightest limit or sits well beside a longer dramatic piece. Play the logic straight; the comedy is that she’s sure she’s right.

Julia, “Nay, would I were so anger’d with the same!” (comedic)

From The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition (which prints angered). Her maid brought Julia a love letter from Proteus. To look proper, Julia tore it up and sent the maid away. Now she’s alone with the pieces. About 202 words, roughly 1 minute 27 seconds.

What she wants: the letter back. She scolds her own hands (O hateful hands, to tear such loving words!), kisses the scraps, and hunts for his name. The scraps give her something to do with her hands, and you can mime the tearing and the pieces with no real paper; some panels advise against props (NYSTEA’s tips, for one), so miming is the safer choice. For a 60-second limit, stop at And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss, about 101 words and roughly 43 seconds. If you have the full time, it ends on her folding the scraps together: Now kiss, embrace, contend, do what you will.

Speeches for young men

Arthur, “Have you the heart?” (dramatic)

From King John, Act 4, Scene 1, in the Gutenberg edition. Arthur has a claim to the throne, so his uncle, King John, wants him gone; in Act 3 he points him out to Hubert as yon young boy. His keeper, Hubert, has just shown Arthur a warrant: he is to burn out the boy’s eyes with hot irons. About 156 words, roughly 1 minute 7 seconds.

What he wants: to make Hubert remember he loves him. Arthur doesn’t argue about the law. He reminds Hubert of the night he tied his own handkerchief around Hubert’s aching head, and then asks the question straight out: Will you put out mine eyes? Arthur is a child in the play, which is exactly why the speech suits a younger teen. Keep it simple and keep your eyes on Hubert.

Romeo, “’Tis torture, and not mercy” (dramatic)

From Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 3. Romeo has killed Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and is hiding in Friar Laurence’s cell. The Friar brings what he thinks is good news: the Prince has banished Romeo instead of sentencing him to death. Romeo hears it as the worst thing that could happen. About 173 words, roughly 1 minute 14 seconds.

What he wants: for the Friar to understand that exile is death. Heaven, he says, is Where Juliet lives, and even the flies there get to be near her. It builds to an attack on the Friar for using the word at all, that word banished. It’s a different Romeo from the balcony one most people bring, and it has a real opponent. Play it to the Friar, not to the ceiling.

Prince Hal, “I know you all” (dramatic)

From Henry IV, Part 1, Act 1, Scene 2, in the Gutenberg edition. Hal is the young heir to the throne, spending his days with Falstaff and his tavern friends. Falstaff has gone, and Poins has just talked him into a prank: robbing Falstaff after Falstaff robs some travellers. Poins leaves. Alone, he tells us it’s an act. About 179 words, roughly 1 minute 17 seconds.

What he wants: for us to know he has a plan. He’ll let his reputation sink like the sun behind clouds, so that when he reforms he’ll look twice as good. The argument is easy to follow (If all the year were playing holidays, fun would be as dull as work), and it ends on a rhymed couplet that snaps shut: Redeeming time, when men think least I will. Talk to the audience as if they’re the only people you can be honest with.

Orlando, “As I remember, Adam” (dramatic, prose)

From As You Like It, Act 1, Scene 1, in the Gutenberg edition. It’s the first speech of the play. Orlando is the youngest son of a dead knight, and his oldest brother, Oliver, has kept him at home with no education while paying for another brother’s schooling. He complains to Adam, the family’s old servant. The full speech is about 234 words, roughly 1 minute 40 seconds.

What he wants: someone to agree it’s unfair. It’s prose, which is a relief if verse scares you, and it’s full of specific grievances: his brother’s horses are treated better, and his keeping differs not from the stalling of an ox. For a minute, stop at his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I, about 143 words and roughly 1 minute 1 second. It pairs well with a verse piece when a notice asks for verse and prose.

For any actor

Puck, “Thou speak’st aright” (comedic)

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 1. A fairy has just recognized Puck as Robin Goodfellow, the spirit who plays tricks on villagers. Puck happily admits it and lists his best pranks. About 128 words, roughly 55 seconds.

What he wants: to show off. The speech opens with I am that merry wanderer of the night and moves through a series of tricks, the best one where a wise old aunt mistakes him for a stool and he slips out from under her, until the whole room laughs and swears A merrier hour was never wasted there. Puck is a spirit, so age and gender are open, and rhymed couplets carry you. Each prank is its own little story; give each one a beat to land. We left out Puck’s closing epilogue, which our Shakespeare monologues for beginners covers.

The picks at a glance

Word counts and times are ours and approximate. The groupings are starting points, not rules (the ESU, for one, lets students pick any packet monologue regardless of gender); check your own notice.

• Under a minute: Hermia (about 84 words, 36 seconds), Miranda (about 111 words, 48 seconds), Julia cut (about 101 words, 43 seconds), Puck (about 128 words, 55 seconds), Juliet (about 135 words, 58 seconds).
• About a minute: Orlando cut (about 143 words, 1:01), Arthur (about 156 words, 1:07).
• Under 90 seconds: Romeo (about 173 words, 1:14), Prince Hal (about 179 words, 1:17), Julia in full (about 202 words, 1:27).
• Under two minutes: Orlando in full (about 234 words, 1:40).

For a contrasting pair, put one comedic and one dramatic side by side: Hermia with Miranda, Julia with Juliet, or Puck with Arthur. For verse and prose, pair Prince Hal with Orlando. Our guide to choosing contrasting monologues covers how to make two pieces show two different people. For full texts of more speeches, browse our monologues for women, monologues for men, comedic monologues, and dramatic monologues.

Speeches to leave for later

Some famous young characters have speeches that work against a teen in an audition, and it helps to know why. NYSTEA’s tips advise avoiding monologues involving madness, and name Ophelia as the example. Her mad scene is in the play for a reason, but it’s a hard thing to show cold in a room.

Length is the other trap. Mercutio is young, and Queen Mab is a great speech, but it runs about 326 words in our count, well past two minutes at a normal pace. Juliet’s potion speech is long too. If you love one of them, save it for class work, or use our guide to cutting a monologue and check the notice allows cuts first.

And skip the old roles for now. Lear, Prospero, and Lady Macbeth are wonderful parts, but they ask for an age and a life you’d be playing from the outside. If you’d rather leave Shakespeare entirely, our guide to classical monologues that aren’t Shakespeare covers Greek tragedy, Molière, and Restoration comedy.

Outside the classical canon, Nina in Chekhov’s The Seagull is a young woman who wants to act. In Act 1 she says her father and his wife are afraid I shall go on the stage.

Learn it in a week, not the night before

Start with meaning. Before you memorize a single line, write the whole speech out in your own everyday words, one sentence per thought. If you can’t paraphrase a line, look it up, because a panel can hear the difference between a word you understand and one you’re just saying. Then read the whole play. NYSTEA’s tips are blunt about it: you may be asked what happens earlier or later.

Next, know the moment before. The ESU handbook tells students to pay particular attention to what happens immediately before the monologue begins. For every pick above, that’s in the first paragraph: the warrant Arthur has just read, the word “puppet,” the three hours since Juliet sent the Nurse. Say that moment out loud before your first line, every time you rehearse.

Then learn the words so they hold up under nerves. In Offbook, you can hide your lines while everyone else’s stay visible, or swap your words for first-letter cues as a step on the way, then hide the whole script for a final test. For a speech with a listener, like Romeo’s or Arthur’s, upload the scene and realistic voices read the Friar’s or Hubert’s lines that set yours off, so you rehearse the answer to something real.

Our free first-letter memorizer turns a pasted speech into first-letter cues. Read the cues, say the full line, check it, and move on. Our guide on how to memorize a monologue walks through the full method.

Finally, time it on your feet. Say it standing, at full energy, three times, and use the slowest run. Rehearse on your laptop with the full scene on a big screen, and listen to it on your phone on the way to school. The week before, our guide to performing Shakespeare monologues covers the verse, the breath, and where to put your eyes.

Questions actors ask

What is a good classical monologue for a teenager?

One spoken by a character who is young in the play, to a clear listener, about one thing they want right now. Juliet waiting for the Nurse, Miranda begging her father to calm the storm, and Arthur pleading with Hubert all fit that, and all run under about a minute and a quarter. If the notice wants comedy, Hermia’s “puppet” speech and Puck’s list of pranks are short and safe.

What Shakespeare monologue is good for a teen girl?

Juliet’s “The clock struck nine” and Miranda’s “If by your art” are both short, dramatic, and spoken by characters around fourteen or fifteen. For comedy, try Hermia’s “Puppet! Why so?” or Julia’s torn-letter speech in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which gives you a real task to play. Puck works for anyone.

What Shakespeare monologue is good for a teen boy?

Arthur’s “Have you the heart?” in King John is written for a child, so it suits younger teens best. Older teens can try Romeo’s banishment speech, Prince Hal’s “I know you all,” or Orlando’s opening complaint in As You Like It, which is in prose. Puck is a strong comic choice for any actor.

What monologue should a teenager do for a school audition?

Whatever the notice asks for first: its time limit, its number of pieces, and whether it wants classical, contemporary, or both. Then pick a character near your age from a published play you’ve read in full. The NYC schools’ guide suggests choosing classical verse only if you can show real ease with the language, so pick a speech you understand line by line.

How long should a teen’s classical monologue be?

Usually one to two minutes, but the notice decides. UNCSA’s high school drama audition caps each monologue at 90 seconds, Interlochen asks for under two minutes, and the ESU competition uses speeches of 15 to 22 lines. Pick a speech that runs a little under the limit when you say it out loud, not one you have to rush.