Marlowe Scenes for Two Actors: Doctor Faustus and Edward II

Your teacher wants classical verse for the duet unit, and your partner has already done the Shakespeare everyone does. Someone says “Marlowe,” and you both nod. Then you go looking, and most Marlowe lists you’ll find are monologue lists: Faustus’s last hour, Helen of Troy, the thousand ships. Finding where two people actually talk takes more digging.

They do, and some of the best talking in Elizabethan drama is in pairs. A scholar and the devil who comes when he calls. A king and the man he loves, reunited, then torn apart. The same king, starving in a dungeon, and the polite stranger who has come to kill him.

The short version: below are six two-person scenes, three from Doctor Faustus and three from Edward II. Each one has the line it starts on, the line it ends on, what each character wants, how the words split, and about how long it runs, plus a cut that runs about five minutes. For single speeches, see our Marlowe monologues for auditions.

Find the same free text as your partner

Both plays are free on Project Gutenberg: The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, eBook 779, edited by the Rev. Alexander Dyce from the 1604 quarto, and Edward the Second, eBook 20288, which names no editor. Every line quoted here is copied from those texts, with Gutenberg’s footnote numbers left out.

Our play library has both plays scene by scene, with every role’s line count: Doctor Faustus and Edward II. It uses modern spelling from Standard Ebooks, so Gutenberg’s Mephistophilis is Mephistopheles there. Neither is wrong. Pick one with your partner before anyone learns a word, so your cues match.

Faustus has a second wrinkle. The play survives in two early versions, and Wikipedia’s entry on the play says the 1616 B text adds 676 new lines, making it roughly a third longer than the 1604 A text. Dyce’s edition follows the 1604 quarto. If your partner bought a paperback, check which text it prints.

Scene numbers below follow our library for Faustus (16 scenes, no acts) and the usual act and scene numbers for Edward II. Editions disagree, so find each scene by its first line.

How the times were worked out

Every time below is an estimate. We counted the spoken words in each scene in the Gutenberg text, stage directions out, and divided by 140 words a minute. Marlowe’s big images need air, so a staged run will usually be longer; time your own version out loud.

If you’re entering a competition, check the clock first. The International Thespian Excellence Awards acting rules define a duet as a performance for two players and say it must not exceed five minutes, timed from the first word or acting beat after the slate.

Doctor Faustus: three scenes with the devil

Faustus is a scholar who has mastered every subject and is bored by all of them, so he turns to magic and sells his soul to Lucifer for twenty-four years of power. Mephistophilis is the devil sent to serve him. The Admiral’s Men played it 23 times between September 1594 and October 1597, according to the same Wikipedia entry.

Faustus and Mephistophilis, Scene 3: the first conjuring

Faustus has drawn his circle and spoken the spell. A devil appears, so ugly that Faustus sends it away to come back as a Franciscan friar. The duet starts on the friar’s Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do? and ends on I will, Faustus., when Mephistophilis goes to carry Faustus’s offer to Lucifer.

FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it:
Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss?

Source: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Scene 3 (Project Gutenberg eBook 779, ed. Dyce).

What each wants: Faustus wants a servant who will do anything, and to feel like a god for having summoned him. Mephistophilis wants the soul, but he also tells the truth: No, I came hither of mine own accord. He came because Faustus cursed God, not because the spell worked. Faustus doesn’t listen, and tells the devil to Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude.

It’s about 490 words, roughly 3.5 minutes, with Faustus at 56% and Mephistophilis at 44%, the most even split of the six scenes here. Don’t play the devil as a villain. He has seen heaven, so let him be the sadder of the two.

Faustus and Mephistophilis, Scene 5: the deed in blood

Mephistophilis comes back with Lucifer’s answer: yes, for the soul, written as a deed of gift in Faustus’s own blood. The duet starts on Faustus’s Now tell me what says Lucifer, thy lord? and the signing runs to Ay, take it, and the devil give thee good on’t!, when he hands over the scroll.

What each wants: Faustus wants the contract done before he loses his nerve, and his body keeps arguing with him. His blood stops flowing (My blood congeals, and I can write no more.), and words appear on his arm telling him to fly. Mephistophilis wants the signature before Faustus thinks again. Watch his aside, O, what will not I do to obtain his soul?, the one moment the mask slips.

The signing is about 660 words, roughly 4.7 minutes, with Faustus at 67%. When Mephistophilis leaves to fetch fire, Faustus has one short solo stretch; play it to the audience. Later the devils bring crowns and dance without a word, so mime the moment or cut it and go straight to Speak, Mephistophilis, what means this show? To shorten it, cut Faustus’s reading of the articles, from Then hear me read them. to the end of the deed: about 520 words, under 4 minutes.

Right after the signing comes the short exchange where Faustus asks where hell is. It starts on Now, Faustus, ask what thou wilt. and ends on I’ll fetch thee a wife in the devil’s name. At about 270 words, around 2 minutes, it’s the only stretch here where Mephistophilis has more words (54%), and it holds his great answer, Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d.

FAUSTUS: Come, I think hell’s a fable.

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.

Source: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Scene 5 (Project Gutenberg eBook 779).

Faustus and Mephistophilis, Scene 6: who made the world

Faustus is already tired of his bargain. After the Good and Evil Angels have argued over him, he steadies himself and turns back to Mephistophilis, who is still on stage, to talk astronomy. The duet starts on Come, Mephistophilis, let us dispute again, and ends on Mephistophilis’s Remember this. as he leaves.

What each wants: Faustus wants something the devil can’t answer, to prove he has bought more than schoolbook facts; he sneers that these are things his servant Wagner could decide. Mephistophilis answers everything, until the one question he won’t touch.

FAUSTUS: Well, I am answered. Tell me who made the world?

MEPHISTOPHILIS: I will not.

FAUSTUS: Sweet Mephistophilis, tell me.

MEPHISTOPHILIS: Move me not, for I will not tell thee.

Source: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Scene 6 (Project Gutenberg eBook 779).

It’s about 306 words, just over 2 minutes, with Faustus at 61%. The scene turns on four words, I will not., so earn the silence before them. It pairs well with the Scene 3 duet for a class that wants to see the relationship change.

Edward II: the king, his friend, and his killer

Edward has just become king, and the first thing he does is call home his favorite, Piers Gaveston, whom the nobles hate. The play’s first known performance was in 1592 by the Earl of Pembroke’s Men, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the play, and it was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 6 July 1593, five weeks after Marlowe’s death. Edward loves Gaveston openly, so play the love plainly, not as a hint.

Edward and Gaveston, Act 1, Scene 1: the reunion

Gaveston has been watching from the side while the barons threaten the king, and he can’t wait any longer. The scene starts on his I can no longer keep me from my lord. and ends on his With captive kings at his triumphant car., just before the Bishop of Coventry walks in.

KING EDWARD: What, Gaveston! welcome! Kiss not my hand:
Embrace me, Gaveston, as I do thee.

Source: Christopher Marlowe, Edward the Second, Act 1, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg eBook 20288).

What each wants: Edward wants to give Gaveston everything at once, titles, his seal, his heart. Gaveston wants to be loved, and he’s smart enough to say the titles are too much. Edward’s brother Kent and the attendants are on stage, and Kent has one two-line objection. Cut Kent and the attendants from your staging, along with Edward’s two lines to his brother, Brother, welcome home my friend. and Cease, brother, for I cannot brook these words., and it’s a pure duet of about 253 words, under 2 minutes, with Edward at 74%.

Edward and Gaveston, Act 1, Scene 4: the parting

The barons and the Archbishop have forced Edward to sign Gaveston’s banishment. Gaveston comes back to find the king alone. The duet starts on his My lord, I hear it whisper’d everywhere, and ends on Edward’s O, that we might as well return as go!, just before Queen Isabella enters.

GAVESTON: Is all my hope turn’d to this hell of grief?

KING EDWARD: Rend not my heart with thy too-piercing words:
Thou from this land, I from myself am banish’d.

Source: Christopher Marlowe, Edward the Second, Act 1, Scene 4 (Project Gutenberg eBook 20288).

What each wants: both want to stay together, and both know they can’t. Edward keeps reversing himself (go, stay, I’ll hide you, let me look at you), and Gaveston keeps being the one who accepts it. They exchange pictures in the middle, so you need two small props. It’s about 314 words, a little over 2 minutes, with Edward at 70%. For a fuller version, start on Edward’s solo rage just before, How fast they run to banish him I love!: about 407 words, just under 3 minutes, though Gaveston’s actor waits offstage for about 40 seconds of it.

Edward and Lightborn, Act 5, Scene 5: the murderer

Edward is deposed and kept in a castle dungeon where, in his words, the filth of the whole castle falls. Mortimer has sent Lightborn to kill him, a character whose name is an anglicised version of “Lucifer,” per the same Wikipedia entry. The duet starts on Edward’s Who’s there? what light is that? wherefore com’st thou? and ends on Lightborn’s To rid thee of thy life., when he calls the jailers in.

LIGHTBORN: What means your highness to mistrust me thus?

KING EDWARD: What mean’st thou to dissemble with me thus?

Source: Christopher Marlowe, Edward the Second, Act 5, Scene 5 (Project Gutenberg eBook 20288).

What each wants: Lightborn wants Edward calm and lying down, and he plays kindness to get it (To comfort you, and bring you joyful news.). Edward knows, then doubts, then gives the man his last jewel, hoping the gift will change his mind. His speech beginning This dungeon where they keep me is the sink is the heart of the scene.

It’s about 482 words, roughly 3.5 minutes, with Edward at 72%. Lightborn’s lines are short, so the part lives in listening. The play goes straight on into a violent killing; stop at Lightborn’s line, and agree with your partner and teacher how you’ll stage the end before you rehearse it.

The five-minute cut, and other ways to fit a slot

For one scene that runs close to five minutes and shows a whole relationship start, take Scene 3 of Doctor Faustus from its first line, Faustus alone with Now that the gloomy shadow of the earth,, through the devil’s first entrance, the friar, and on to I will, Faustus. The whole stretch is about 729 words, around 5.2 minutes. Cut the Latin incantation (55 words) and it drops to about 674 words, about five minutes by our estimate. That’s tight against a five-minute limit, so time it out loud before you commit.

In that cut Faustus has 68% of the words, and Mephistophilis has no words for the first minute or more. That’s the trade: you get the conjuring and the change into a friar, which is great theater, but the devil’s actor waits. If you want an even split, use the Scene 3 duet alone.

• For two Edward and Gaveston scenes in one slot, play the reunion (Kent cut) and the parting back to back: about 567 words, about 4 minutes, with a beat of stillness between.
• For Faustus and the devil before and after the bargain, pair the Scene 3 duet and the Scene 6 argument: about 796 words, around 5.7 minutes, so trim one long Faustus speech.
• When you cut, cut from the front or along a list. Marlowe piles things up, and losing part of a list keeps the cue chain your partner leans on.

Speak the mighty line to your partner

Ben Jonson’s tribute to Shakespeare in the 1623 First Folio praises Marlowe’s mighty line, and the note on Representative Poetry Online glosses it as loftiness and sonorousness of diction and versification. That sound is the trap in a duet. Ten loud, even syllables, line after line, and you stop talking to the person in front of you.

• Aim each big line at your partner. Why, this is hell is an answer to Faustus’s question, not a speech to the back row.
• Pick up the short cues fast. Where are you damn’d? gets In hell., and Tell me who made the world? gets I will not.; any gap there goes slack.
• Hear the echoes. Lightborn’s What means your highness to mistrust me thus? and Edward’s reply are built the same way. Let the second land on the first.
• Trust the old spellings. These texts print banish’d and depriv’d to show the -ed is not sounded as an extra syllable, which keeps the line moving.

Our guide to learning lines in verse has more on line endings and keeping rhythm from turning into a chant. For Marlowe’s contemporaries, see our Shakespeare scenes for two actors and Ben Jonson scenes for two actors.

Rehearse it before you meet your partner

The long speeches are easy to drill alone. The short cues are not: Mephistophilis’s I will not., Gaveston’s The peers will frown., Lightborn’s He sleeps. only work if they come the instant the other person stops, and you can’t practice that with nobody reading the other part.

In Offbook, you can upload the play as a PDF and pick only the pages of your scene, as the video below shows, and realistic voices read the other part, then wait while you say your line.

For a free warm-up with no account, our run lines online tool rehearses classic scenes and waits for your line. Our free script line counter shows who has how many lines in a pasted scene, and our guide on how to prepare a scene for acting class has the week-by-week plan.

Questions actors ask

What are good Marlowe scenes for two actors?

Good choices are Faustus and Mephistophilis’s first meeting in Scene 3 of Doctor Faustus (about 3.5 minutes, nearly even), the signing of the deed in Scene 5, and three from Edward II: Edward and Gaveston’s reunion and parting in Act 1, and Edward and Lightborn in Act 5.

Is there a two-person scene in Doctor Faustus?

Yes, several, all for Faustus and Mephistophilis. The first conjuring, with Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it, is the best known. The deed in blood, the short exchange about where hell is that follows it, and the argument over who made the world are the others. More pairings are in our list of two-person scenes for two men.

What Edward II scene works for two men?

For love, the parting in Act 1, Scene 4, about 2 minutes and a pure duet. For menace, Edward and Lightborn in Act 5, Scene 5, about 3.5 minutes. Both parts can be played by actors of any gender if your class or festival allows it.

How do you speak Marlowe’s mighty line in a scene?

Keep the size, but aim it at your partner. Let each line run through to its end, pick up short cues with no gap, and save your breath for the lists. A big line said to someone is acting; a big line said to the air is reciting.

Can I rehearse a Marlowe scene without my partner?

Yes. Rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and Offbook’s voices read your partner’s lines and wait for yours. You can also listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere.