Shakespeare Scenes for Two Actors: Ten Duets With Setups and Run Times

Your teacher says “bring in a Shakespeare scene, two people, next Thursday.” You and your partner open the Complete Works, find that half the famous scenes have five people talking, and end up arguing about Romeo and Juliet again. Everyone in class will have the balcony scene. You want something else.

The good news is that Shakespeare wrote dozens of real duets: two people alone on stage, each wanting something the other won’t give. The trouble is finding where they start and stop, and knowing whether one of you will stand there for six minutes saying “my lord” while the other gets every speech.

The short version: below are ten two-person scenes from nine plays, each with where to start and stop, what each person wants, the line where the scene turns, words per part, and an estimated run time. They skip the picks our other lists already use, so you can pair this with our dramatic scenes for a man and a woman and comedy scenes for two actors.

How to read the numbers before you pick

The words per part tell you whether the scene is fair. Some of the best duets in Shakespeare are lopsided: Titania speaks five words for every one of Oberon’s. That’s fine for an audition piece for one actor with a friend reading in, and a problem for a class that grades both of you. Check the split first.

We counted the spoken words in each cut, stage directions out, in the texts our play library uses, then divided by 140 a minute. Treat the times as a floor: verse slows you down, and pauses, fights, and kisses take longer than words. If you’re entering a competition, check the clock. The International Thespian Excellence Awards acting rules define a duet as a performance for two players and say the scene should not exceed five minutes, with both players actively involved. Several scenes here run longer, so plan a cut.

The excerpts quoted below are from Project Gutenberg editions, which are in the public domain in the United States. Work from the same edition as your partner. Editions differ in small ways (a comma, an exclamation mark, “i’ the” or “i’ th’”), and a mismatched comma can cost you a cue.

Two scenes from Hamlet that aren’t the soliloquies

Hamlet and Gertrude: the closet scene (3.4) — a man and a woman

Hamlet goes to his mother’s room just after the play that caught Claudius out. Start on Hamlet’s Now, mother, what’s the matter? and stop on Gertrude’s No more!, just before the Ghost enters. That cut runs about 755 words: Hamlet about 600, Gertrude about 140, so roughly five and a half minutes. Polonius has a few words behind the arras; a third person can say them offstage, or you cut them and mime the stab. The full scene to Hamlet’s exit runs about twelve minutes.

Gertrude wants her son back under control; Hamlet wants her to see what she has done. It opens in fast single lines, the device called stichomythia, where characters trade one line each, and this exchange is a textbook example of it:

HAMLET: Now, mother, what’s the matter?

QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended.

QUEEN: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

QUEEN: Why, how now, Hamlet?

HAMLET: What’s the matter now?

QUEEN: Have you forgot me?

Source: William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4, Project Gutenberg edition.

Notice how each of Hamlet’s lines steals the shape of hers and flips one word. Play that as a weapon, not a pattern. The turn is the killing of Polonius: after it, Hamlet has nothing left to lose and Gertrude has nowhere to go.

Hamlet and Ophelia: “Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1) — a man and a woman

Start on Ophelia’s Good my lord, just after “To be, or not to be,” and run to the end of her speech O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! About 590 words, Hamlet about 370 and Ophelia about 220, so roughly four minutes. Ophelia has been sent to return his gifts, his “remembrances,” while her father and the king listen. Hamlet wants the truth from the one person he thought would give it to him.

The turn is two lines. Hamlet suddenly asks, Where’s your father?, and Ophelia answers, At home, my lord. She is lying, and her father is in earshot. Whether Hamlet knows it is the biggest choice the two of you will make, and every line after it changes depending on the answer. Decide it together before you run the scene once.

Jealousy, twice: Othello and The Winter’s Tale

Othello and Iago: the temptation (3.3) — two men

Start on Othello’s Excellent wretch!, the moment Desdemona leaves, and run to her re-entrance. It’s about 1,550 words, Othello about 700 and Iago about 860, so about eleven minutes, and the most even big scene on the list. For a class slot, cut to the stretch from Iago’s question about whether Cassio knew of the courtship through his warning about the green-ey’d monster.

Iago wants Othello to believe it without ever being told it. Othello wants to be told it’s nothing. The trick for the actor playing Iago is to retreat every time Othello pushes: many of his lines are refusals to say more. The turn comes when Othello stops asking Iago and starts asking himself, Why did I marry?

Leontes and Camillo: “Is whispering nothing?” (1.2) — two men

The same disease in a faster patient. Start on Camillo’s You had much ado to make his anchor hold, just after Leontes sends his son off to play, and run to Leontes’s I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised me. About 1,080 words, Leontes about 675 and Camillo about 400, so roughly seven and a half minutes.

Leontes wants a witness to agree with him; Camillo wants to cure him without being destroyed. Leontes’s speech Is whispering nothing? is a rising list of evidence that collapses into the word “nothing” over and over, and it’s a gift for an actor who likes to build. The turn is Camillo giving up on the truth and agreeing to poison Polixenes, which he never means to do.

Love scenes where one person knows more

Viola and Orsino: patience on a monument (Twelfth Night, 2.4) — a man and a woman, or two women

Viola, disguised as the boy Cesario, loves Orsino, who only wants to talk about Olivia. Start on his Let all the rest give place and run to the end of the scene. About 385 words, split almost exactly in half (the fairest split on this list), so under three minutes. Add the earlier exchange where Orsino asks what kind of woman Cesario loves (skip Feste’s song) and it’s about four and a half. Viola is already a woman playing a boy, and Orsino can be cast across gender, so two women can play it.

DUKE: And what’s her history?

VIOLA: A blank, my lord. She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i’ th’ bud,
Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought,
And with a green and yellow melancholy
She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief. Was not this love, indeed?
We men may say more, swear more, but indeed,
Our shows are more than will; for still we prove
Much in our vows, but little in our love.

DUKE: But died thy sister of her love, my boy?

VIOLA: I am all the daughters of my father’s house,
And all the brothers too: and yet I know not.
Sir, shall I to this lady?

Source: William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 4, Project Gutenberg edition.

Viola is describing herself and nearly confessing. The turn is and yet I know not: she has almost told him, and she pulls back into the errand. Orsino’s job is to hear something he doesn’t understand, which is harder to play than it sounds.

Rosalind and Orlando: the wooing lesson (As You Like It, 4.1) — a man and a woman, or two women

Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, is “curing” Orlando of love by letting him woo her as if she were Rosalind. Start on Orlando’s late entrance, My fair Rosalind, I come within an hour of my promise, and run to his I hope so. About 590 words, but Rosalind has about 460 of them, so this is her scene; Orlando’s job is to keep up. Cut Celia’s one line and it’s a duet of about four minutes. Rosalind is a woman playing a young man, and Orlando can be cast across gender, so two women can play it too.

The turn is Orlando saying he’d die if Rosalind refused him, and Rosalind’s prose answer that men have died and worms have eaten them, but not for love. She is mocking him and terrified he means it. Our comedy list already has the earlier Act 3 scene, so this one gives you a second Rosalind.

Lorenzo and Jessica: “In such a night” (The Merchant of Venice, 5.1) — a man and a woman

The shortest scene here and the most musical. Start on Lorenzo’s opening speech and run to Jessica’s I would out-night you: about 195 words, roughly a minute and a half. Lovers who have run away together trade images of doomed classical lovers, most beginning In such a night, and the game slowly turns into teasing about whether they’ll last.

Use it as a warm-up, a piece for two newer actors, or the end of a longer program. The turn is Lorenzo bringing the list home to Jessica herself, and the question is whether the teasing has an edge.

Power scenes: fathers, masters, and kings

Prospero and Ariel: “My liberty” (The Tempest, 1.2) — any two actors

Start on Ariel’s All hail, great master! and run to Prospero sending Ariel off disguised as a sea-nymph, ending before he wakes Miranda with Awake, dear heart, awake! About 955 words, Prospero about 510 and Ariel about 450, so about seven minutes. Miranda sleeps onstage through it; she can be cut. Ariel is a spirit, so the part suits any actor, and any pair can play the scene.

It begins as a triumphant report on the storm and turns on two words, My liberty:

ARIEL: Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet perform’d me.

PROSPERO: How now? moody? What is’t thou canst demand?

ARIEL: My liberty.

PROSPERO: Before the time be out? no more!

ARIEL: I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

Source: William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2, Project Gutenberg edition (Cambridge edition, edited by Clark and Glover).

Ariel wants freedom now; Prospero wants two more days of service and will threaten to get it. The scene works when Prospero’s anger comes from fear of losing the one helper he has, not from cruelty.

King Henry and Hal: “Be more myself” (Henry IV Part 1, 3.2) — two men

Start on the king’s Lords, give us leave and run to Blunt’s entrance. About 1,230 words, the king about 890 and Hal about 340, so about nine minutes. Our list for two men already uses Hal and Falstaff; this is the scene those tavern games were rehearsing for.

The king wants his son to stop embarrassing him before the rebellion arrives. Hal wants his father to see him. Hal’s first try, I shall hereafter ... Be more myself, is too small, and the king keeps going. The real turn is Hal’s long vow to beat Hotspur, the first time he talks like a prince to his father. Let the king’s long speeches land on Hal as blows, and the vow will feel earned.

Oberon and Titania: “Ill met by moonlight” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2.1) — a man and a woman

Start on Oberon’s Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania and run to her Fairies, away! About 650 words, but Titania has about 550 of them, so this is a showcase for her: the long speech about the weather going wrong because of their quarrel is a monologue inside a scene. About four and a half minutes. The fairies who attend them need no lines.

Oberon wants the changeling boy; Titania won’t give him up, and she tells you why only near the end, when she talks about the boy’s mother. That’s the turn: the argument stops being about power and becomes about a friend she lost.

How to rehearse a two-person Shakespeare scene

Read the whole play once, or at least a scene summary of everything before your cut. Then paraphrase your lines into your own words, side by side with the text; our guide to paraphrasing Shakespeare shows how. You can’t play a want you can’t say in plain English.

• Find the turn first. Mark the line where one of you changes tactics, and rehearse into it and out of it before anything else.
• Learn your cues, not just your lines. In the stichomythia stretches, the last word of your partner’s line is your starting gun.
• Run the scene from cue scripts at least once, with only your lines and the few words before each one; our guide to rehearsing with cue scripts shows how.
• Time a full run with a phone stopwatch, then cut whole speeches rather than half lines, so the verse still scans.
• Do a run where you only listen, then one where you only want, then put them together.

Most of the work happens apart, so the lopsided scenes are easier than they look. In Offbook, you can upload your cut as a PDF or text file and pick your role, as the video below shows. Realistic voices read the other part, and Offbook listens while you say your line and plays the next cue when you finish.

For a scene of your own choosing from a classic play, our free run lines online tool lets you rehearse classic scenes with voices that wait for your line, and the first-letter memorizer turns a speech like Viola’s into cues. For single speeches instead, the Shakespeare monologues list has setups and run times, and our acting scripts page lists scenes from other playwrights, including lists for two women and two men.

Each play here has its full text in our library: Hamlet, Othello, The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Henry IV Part 1, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Questions actors ask

What is a good two-person Shakespeare scene for acting class?

For an even split, Viola and Orsino in Twelfth Night 2.4 (under three minutes). For something weightier, Hamlet and Ophelia in 3.1 (about four). Both have a clear turn, which is what a scene-study teacher will want you to find and play.

What Shakespeare scenes work for two women?

Viola and Orsino and Rosalind and Orlando both work for two women, because the heroine is already playing a young man and Orsino and Orlando can be cast across gender. For scenes written for two women, such as Desdemona and Emilia or Rosalind and Celia, see our list of two-person scenes for two women.

What Shakespeare scenes work for two men?

Othello and Iago, Leontes and Camillo, and King Henry and Hal are all written for two men, and Prospero and Ariel works for any pair. Our list of two-person scenes for two men has Brutus and Cassius and Hal and Falstaff.

How long should a Shakespeare scene for class be?

Whatever your teacher says, and if they don’t say, ask. For competitions, the Thespys rules cap a duet at five minutes. At about 140 words a minute, that’s around 700 spoken words; verse and silence usually make it fewer.

Can we cut lines from a Shakespeare scene?

Yes. The plays are in the public domain, and directors cut them all the time. Cut whole speeches or complete verse lines where you can, keep the turn, and agree on the cut in writing so you and your partner learn the same text.