Four-Person Scenes From Classic Plays: Seven Quartets With Setups and Run Times

Your teacher splits the class into groups of four, and your group needs a scene. The catalogs online are full of modern plays you would have to buy, and many scene books are built around duets. A scene for four where everyone has real lines is harder to find than it should be.

The classics have plenty. Two pairs of lovers turn on each other in a wood at night. Four young men swore off love; three are caught reading love poems, and the fourth catches them all. Two women find out that both their fiancés made up the same name.

The short version: below are seven scenes for four actors from public-domain plays, from a three-and-a-half-minute Wilde scene to a 13-minute Shakespeare showpiece. For each you get where it sits, the setup, what each character wants, how the words split, and how long it runs out loud. Every quoted line was checked against a public-domain text. After the list: how to stage four bodies so nobody is hidden, and how to rehearse when four schedules never line up.

Pick a scene where four people want different things

A good quartet is not a duet with two people watching. Look for a scene where every character wants something the others are blocking. In several of the scenes below, the four split into two pairs, and then the pairs break apart. That shape gives everyone a turn to push and a turn to be pushed.

If you are entering a competition, read the rules first. The Educational Theatre Association’s Thespys acting rules define a group scene as three to sixteen players, cap it at five minutes, allow up to six chairs and one table, and require every participant to be actively involved. Only two scenes here come in at about five minutes or less.

Run times below are spoken words at 140 a minute with stage directions removed, counted on the texts in our play library, the same method as our acting scripts page. Pauses, business, and laughs add time. If your group has three people, see our three-person scenes from classic plays.

Two short quartets, about five minutes or less

The servants in the evening field: The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, the opening of Act 2, up to the moment the family arrives. Charlotta, the governess, sits with the maid Dunyasha and the young footman Yasha. Epihodov, the clerk who loves Dunyasha, stands nearby with a guitar. Charlotta talks about not knowing who she is, Epihodov shows off his revolver and his vocabulary, and Dunyasha tells Yasha she loves him while he smokes a cigar.

About 5 minutes, and with no part much more than twice another (Epihodov about 230 words, Charlotta about 200, Dunyasha about 130, Yasha about 115). Charlotta wants someone to talk to; Epihodov wants Dunyasha alone; Dunyasha wants Yasha; Yasha wants to look sophisticated and not get caught. Nobody gets what they want, and the comedy is that nobody listens. It starts with an argument about an instrument:

DUNYASHA: That’s a guitar, not a mandoline.

EPIHODOV: To a man mad with love, it’s a mandoline.

Source: Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, translated by Constance Garnett, Act 2, Standard Ebooks edition.

Charlotta leaves partway through, and Epihodov goes to fetch Dunyasha’s mantle, so plan the exits; the scene ends as a duet. The Cherry Orchard play guide has the full text.

Two Ernests, no Ernest: The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, Act 2, from Gwendolen’s Ernest! My own Ernest! to the two women walking into the house. Gwendolen and Cecily have just fought over tea, each sure she is engaged to Ernest Worthing. Jack walks in, and Cecily tells Gwendolen he is her guardian, Jack. Algernon walks in, and Gwendolen tells Cecily he is her cousin, Algernon. Neither man is called Ernest, and the women turn into allies.

About 3 and a half minutes (Gwendolen about 165 words, Jack about 140, Cecily about 130, Algernon about 30). Each woman wants the truth from her man; each man wants to keep his fiancée without admitting anything. The turn comes when the rivals become sisters:

CECILY: A gross deception has been practised on both of us.

GWENDOLEN: My poor wounded Cecily!

CECILY: My sweet wronged Gwendolen!

Source: Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2, Project Gutenberg edition.

Algernon is light here. To even it out, run on to the end of the act, where the two men fight over the muffins (about 10 minutes in all, with Algernon at about 560 words and Jack at about 525). See the Earnest play guide.

Comic quartets for acting class

Four men in hiding: Love’s Labour’s Lost

Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare, Act 4, Scene 3, from the opening to Berowne’s I post from love, just before Costard and Jaquenetta enter. The King of Navarre and three lords swore to study for three years and see no women. Berowne (Biron in some editions) hides and hears the King read a love poem. The King hides and hears Longaville read one. Longaville hides and hears Dumaine. Then each steps out to scold the one below him, until Berowne scolds them all.

About 11 minutes (Berowne about 730 words, the King about 380, Dumaine about 225, Longaville about 200). Each man wants to hide his own love and catch the others. Berowne, watching from above, gets to comment on everyone:

DUMAINE: O most divine Kate!

BEROWNE: O most profane coxcomb!

Source: William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 4, Scene 3, Project Gutenberg edition.

Berowne’s line when Dumaine walks in, Four woodcocks in a dish!, is a good note for the whole scene: four fools, each sure he is the clever one. The hiding places need blocking early, since three people overhear at once. See the Love’s Labour’s Lost play guide.

Benedick in the arbor: Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare, Act 2, Scene 3, from Don Pedro’s Come hither, Leonato to Benedick’s This can be no trick. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato know Benedick is hiding in the garden, so they talk loudly about how Beatrice is dying of love for him. He believes it.

About 9 minutes, and nearly even (Don Pedro about 365 words, Leonato about 345, Benedick about 290, Claudio about 230). The three plotters want a convincing show; Benedick wants to know if it is true. He has two short asides, then the whole turn in his speech at the end. Claudio names the plan out loud:

CLAUDIO: Bait the hook well: this fish will bite.

Source: William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3, Project Gutenberg edition.

This one is on our acting scripts page, and it pairs with the women’s version, Beatrice overhearing in Act 3, Scene 1, which is in the three-person list. See the Much Ado play guide.

The screen scene: The School for Scandal

The School for Scandal, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Act 4, Scene 3, from Joseph’s A narrow escape, indeed! to the end. Joseph Surface, who poses as a man of fine sentiments, has Lady Teazle hidden behind his screen and her husband, Sir Peter, hidden in his closet. Then his brother Charles arrives. Charles calls Sir Peter out of the closet. Sir Peter, to get back at Joseph, tells Charles that a woman is behind the screen, and Charles throws it down.

About 11 and a half minutes (Charles about 620 words, Joseph about 405, Sir Peter about 360, Lady Teazle about 215, plus one line for a servant). Joseph wants everyone kept apart; Sir Peter wants proof about Charles; Charles wants a joke at his brother’s expense; Lady Teazle wants to escape. The two hiders whisper at the start:

LADY TEAZLE: Couldn’t I steal off?

JOSEPH SURFACE: Keep close, my angel!

Source: Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Act 4, Scene 3, Standard Ebooks edition.

The fall of the screen is the scene’s biggest moment: Lady Teazle, by all that’s wonderful, says Charles; by all that’s damnable, says Sir Peter. Lady Teazle is silent behind the screen for most of the scene, then turns on Joseph in front of her husband. See the School for Scandal play guide.

Two dramatic quartets

The lovers’ quarrel: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 2, from Lysander’s Why should you think that I should woo in scorn to Hermia’s I am amazed, and know not what to say. It is a comedy, but the four people in it are not joking. A love potion has turned both young men from Hermia to Helena. Helena thinks all three are mocking her, Hermia thinks Helena has stolen Lysander, and a childhood friendship falls apart.

About 13 minutes (Helena about 850 words, Lysander about 395, Hermia about 350, Demetrius about 245). Helena wants the cruel joke to stop; Hermia wants Lysander back; both men want Helena and want to fight each other for her. The height insults push the women’s fight to its peak:

HELENA: And though she be but little, she is fierce.

Source: William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2, Project Gutenberg edition.

Play it as if everyone’s life depends on it, because to them it does; the audience laughs at the stakes, not at the acting. Hermia’s How low am I, thou painted maypole? is a real threat. It is one of the group scenes on our acting scripts page, and the Dream play guide has the full text.

Mercutio’s death: Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1, from the opening to Benvolio’s Why dost thou stay?, just before the citizens arrive. It is a hot day. Benvolio wants to go home; Mercutio wants a fight. Tybalt comes looking for Romeo, and Romeo, secretly married to Tybalt’s cousin, refuses to fight him. Mercutio fights Tybalt instead and is wounded under Romeo’s arm. Romeo then kills Tybalt.

About 8 minutes (Mercutio about 580 words, Romeo about 250, Benvolio about 170, Tybalt about 105). Benvolio wants peace, Mercutio wants a quarrel, Tybalt wants Romeo, and Romeo wants everyone to stop until his friend dies. Then he wants Tybalt dead. Mercutio’s wound turns the scene:

MERCUTIO: I am hurt.
A plague o’ both your houses. I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?

BENVOLIO: What, art thou hurt?

MERCUTIO: Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, ’tis enough.

Source: William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1, Project Gutenberg edition.

There are two fights within a few pages, so do not improvise them; more on that below. Tybalt’s part is small, so give it to the actor who moves best. The Romeo and Juliet play guide has the full text.

Match the scene to your four and your clock

For a five-minute slot, start with Chekhov or Wilde. For four parts of similar size, take Much Ado. For two women and two men with big parts on both sides, take the Dream.

To cut a long quartet, cut whole exchanges and keep each character’s turn. In the Dream, keep the height insults; in Love’s Labour’s Lost, keep each man stepping out of hiding.

Stage four as two triangles, not a line

Nick Garcia’s directing textbook on LibreTexts advises putting any three or more actors in a triangle or a shape with a visual apex, and calls a straight line flat and uninteresting. The fix it gives is small: move one person slightly upstage or downstage.

Four actors drift into a line easily, shoulder to shoulder, with someone’s back to the audience. Think of the four as two triangles that share a side, and choose who sits at the point of each. In the Dream, Helena can be the point while she believes all three are against her, and Hermia takes it when she turns on Helena.

Hiding scenes do this for you. In the screen scene, Lady Teazle and Sir Peter start as two fixed points the audience never forgets, and Joseph runs between them. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, put each hidden lord at a different height, so the stage fills up as the scene goes on.

Share the focus

In a group of four, two people tend to carry the scene while the other two wait. The improv game Give and Take, credited to Viola Spolin on the University of Texas at Austin’s Drama-Based Pedagogy site, trains the opposite habit: everyone freezes but one player, and later players can take the energy, which freezes the one who had it.

Beat by Beat Press sums up the point as learning when to give focus and when to take it. Play a few rounds before your first run. Then, in the scene, decide line by line who has the focus and what the other three are doing with theirs.

The silent ones need work too. Benedick hears every lie told about Beatrice, and Lady Teazle hears Charles tease Joseph about her. Give each listener three or four planned reactions and rehearse them like lines.

Rehearse a fight scene safely

Romeo and Juliet has two sword fights, and the Dream has grabbing and threatened blows. Ask your teacher who sets the moves, then never change them in rehearsal. Synetic Theater’s guide On Being a Fight Captain describes a fight call before every show: each sequence run at half speed, then close to performance speed.

Borrow that for class. Before every run, walk each fight at half speed, then run it once at speed. The same guide prefers a fight captain who is not in most of the fights, an outside eye. In a quartet, that can be the actor who is not fighting at that moment, like Benvolio, if your staging keeps him out of the fights.

Rehearse your part when the other three are busy

Four schedules almost never line up, so most of your work happens alone or in pairs. Before you cast it, paste the scene into our script line counter to see how many words each part has. Berowne’s 730 words take far longer to learn than Longaville’s 200, so plan rehearsal time to match.

A quartet holds six pairs. Find the two or three that matter most, such as Helena and Hermia, or Joseph and Sir Peter, and book short sessions for those. Learn the cue, the last few words before each of your lines, along with the line. Our cue script maker turns any scene into your lines with their cues. In a group scene your cue can come from any of three people, so learn who gives each one.

You can also run the whole scene with nobody else free. Upload the play to Offbook, pick just the pages of your scene, as the video below shows, and choose your role: realistic voices read the other three parts, and the next cue plays when you finish your line. Hide your own lines as they settle.

• Count the words per part and agree who needs the most rehearsal.
• Rehearse the key pairs on their own before the first full run.
• Block the hiding places, entrances, and exits before you learn the lines that go with them.
• Walk every fight at half speed, then at speed, before every run.
• Do a speed-through with all four the day before you show it.

When all four of you finally meet, you will be running the scene, not learning it. For crowd scenes bigger than four, see how to learn lines in a big ensemble scene, and for a week’s plan, see how to prepare a scene for acting class.

Questions actors ask

What are good four-person scenes from Shakespeare?

The lovers’ quarrel in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2; the four lords caught in love in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 4, Scene 3; Benedick tricked in Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3; and Mercutio’s death in Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1. The editions quoted here are in the public domain.

What is a good four-person scene for a five-minute limit?

The opening of Act 2 of The Cherry Orchard runs about 5 minutes with a fairly even split, and the Act 2 reveal in The Importance of Being Earnest runs about 3 and a half. Pauses and business add time, so time a full run before a competition.

Where can I find a scene for four actors?

Look inside full plays, where group scenes are common. Our acting scripts page lists classical scenes for two actors and for groups with run times, and the full texts are in our play library.

How do you rehearse a scene with four people?

Learn your lines with their cues alone, rehearse the key pairs separately, then run all four. Stage it as two triangles rather than a line, plan the silent characters’ reactions, and walk any fight at half speed before every run.