Two-Minute Classical Monologues That Fit an Audition Slot

The audition notice says “one classical speech, no longer than two minutes.” Two minutes sounds roomy after a one-minute slot. Then you time your favorite speech and it runs two minutes forty, and the one you found in a monologue book turns out to be three speeches stitched together.

Two minutes is a real stretch of time on stage. It’s long enough for a full argument, a change of mind, and a decision. It also means the panel watches you think through verse for a long while, so a speech that only describes something will run out of road around the one-minute mark.

The short version: as a rough guide, a two-minute monologue is about 240 to 320 words as printed, and a classical speech of about 220 to 280 words is the comfortable zone, because verse wants air and big moments take time. Below are nine public-domain speeches that sit near two minutes, with our word count, an estimated time, and a clean cut where the full speech runs long. Every one comes from a play you can read free, start to finish, before you walk in.

How many words is a two-minute monologue?

Start with an ordinary pace. A public speaking course from Lumen Learning, citing the National Center for Voice and Speech, puts the average speaking rate for American English at around 150 words a minute, and suggests 125 to 150 for public speaking. At 150, two minutes is 300 words. Our free monologue timer works from three paces, 120, 140, and 160 words a minute, so two minutes lands somewhere between 240 and 320 words.

Acting is slower than chatting. You breathe at the ends of thoughts, you let an image land, and you take a beat before the turn. So treat 300 words as the edge, not the target. Around 220 to 280 words is a comfortable two-minute classical piece for most actors. Past about 320, plan to cut.

A note on the numbers below. We counted the spoken words in each speech ourselves, in the Standard Ebooks text in our play library, and checked the lines we quote against the Project Gutenberg edition linked beside each one. The times are those counts at 150 words a minute, not stopwatch runs, so treat both as estimates. Another edition will give a slightly different count, and your own pace is the one that counts.

What the two-minute rules actually say

Two minutes is a common cap for a classical speech, but the details differ, so read the exact wording. RADA’s BA Acting admissions procedure for 2026 asks for two speeches on the self-tape and says each “should last no longer than two minutes.” Its classical speech should be from Shakespeare or an Elizabethan or Jacobean playwright, and originally written in English, so Greek tragedy and Molière are out.

An earlier Juilliard FAQ about audition monologues asked for four pieces, each approximately two minutes, with at least one by Shakespeare and at least one in verse. It also said the faculty didn’t use a timer in the room, and that it’s fine to run slightly under or a few seconds over two minutes. Check the current year’s requirements before you apply. Interlochen’s acting audition requirements are stricter on paper: each monologue should be less than two minutes.

Some contests don’t use minutes at all. The English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition, in its 2025 teacher handbook, requires students to pick from its own packet of monologues of 15 to 22 lines, performed with no alterations. Every verse speech below runs 29 lines or more, so they’re for school and conservatory slots, not that competition. For one-minute slots, see the companion guide, one-minute monologues.

Shakespeare that runs under two minutes as printed, or nearly

These five fit a two-minute cap at 150 words a minute, four as printed and Benedick with a one-line trim at each end (his full speech is about 310 words, about 2 minutes 4 seconds). Each one is spoken to someone, or to the audience, with a clear reason to speak now. For the full list of Shakespeare speeches in our library, shortest first, see our Shakespeare monologue pages.

Hermione, “Since what I am to say must be but that” (women)

From The Winter’s Tale, Act 3, Scene 2. Hermione, the queen, is on trial for adultery and treason, accused by her own husband, King Leontes, who is also her judge. She has just heard the charge read out. About 263 words by our count, roughly 1 minute 45 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Why it works in two minutes: she knows that pleading “not guilty” is useless when the judge has already decided, so she argues anyway, to his face, from her own record. The speech builds to a dare, that if she ever strayed, her nearest kin should Cry fie upon my grave! Play it as an attack on Leontes’s certainty. Don’t play it as self-pity.

Rosalind, “And why, I pray you? Who might be your mother” (women, comedic)

From As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5. Rosalind, disguised as a young man, has been watching the shepherdess Phebe scorn the shepherd Silvius, who loves her. She steps in and tells Phebe exactly what she thinks of her. About 252 words by our count, roughly 1 minute 41 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Why it works: it has three targets, Phebe, then Silvius, then Phebe again, so the shifts are built in. A third of the way in, Rosalind notices Phebe is falling for her (I think she means to tangle my eyes too!), and the comedy turns on that. The best advice in the speech is her own: Sell when you can; you are not for all markets. Keep it brisk and practical, like a friend with no patience.

Antony, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” (men)

From Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2. Brutus has just persuaded the crowd that Caesar had to die, and has let Antony speak at the funeral on condition he doesn’t blame the conspirators. About 268 words by our count, roughly 1 minute 47 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Everyone knows the first line, which is the risk. The speech is a manipulation in plain sight: Antony repeats that Brutus is an honourable man until the phrase means its opposite. Play the crowd as people you’re winning over one by one, and find a new reason for each repeat. It ends with a real pause, And I must pause till it come back to me, so you finish on a choice, not a full stop.

Titania, “These are the forgeries of jealousy” (women)

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 1. Oberon, king of the fairies, has accused Titania of loving Theseus. She answers that his jealous quarrel has thrown the whole natural world out of order. Our library page for “These are the forgeries of jealousy” counts 277 words, roughly 1 minute 51 seconds, and the opening matches the Gutenberg edition.

Why it works: it’s an argument made of pictures, flooded fields, rotting crops, frost on the roses, all of it the fruit of a quarrel she says he started. The danger is that it turns into a nature poem. Keep every image pointed at Oberon: this is what you did. At 277 words it’s near the top of the comfortable zone, so it needs strong breath support to stay under two minutes.

Benedick, “I do much wonder that one man” (men, comedic)

From Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3. Benedick, alone in the orchard, can’t believe his friend Claudio, a soldier, has fallen in love and gone soft. Start at I do much wonder and stop at what colour it please God, and it’s about 285 words of prose by our count, roughly 1 minute 54 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Why it works: it’s a comic soliloquy that keeps catching itself. He mocks Claudio, wonders whether love could change him too, swears it won’t, and then lists the impossible qualities a woman would need, getting more specific with each one. The joke is that the audience can see where this is going. At 285 words it’s just past the comfortable zone, so keep it moving. Play him certain, and let the list run away from him.

Two longer speeches with a clean cut

Both of these run over two minutes as printed, and both have a natural place to stop. Time the cut on your feet before you commit, and check that the notice allows cuts (the ESU competition, for one, doesn’t).

Queen Katherine, “Sir, I desire you do me right and justice” (women, with a cut)

From Henry VIII, Act 2, Scene 4. At the trial over her marriage, Katherine, a queen born in Spain who says she has no impartial judge in the room, speaks directly to the king. The full speech is about 366 words by our count, roughly 2 minutes 26 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Stop at To the sharp’st kind of justice. and you have about 260 words, roughly 1 minute 44 seconds. The cut leaves out her argument about the wise councils that approved the marriage, and ends on her offer: if he can prove anything against her, turn her away. Why it works: twenty years of marriage are on the line, and she argues from facts, not tears.

Othello, “Her father lov’d me, oft invited me” (men, with a cut)

From Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. Desdemona’s father has accused Othello, before the Duke and senators, of winning her with witchcraft. Othello tells them how it really happened. The full speech is about 344 words by our count, roughly 2 minutes 18 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Two cuts get it under. End at And I lov’d her that she did pity them. to drop the last two lines (about 328 words, roughly 2 minutes 11 seconds). Then cut the travel passage from Wherein of antres vast to Do grow beneath their shoulders., picking up at This to hear, and you’re at about 283 words, roughly 1 minute 53 seconds. Why it works: he wins the room with a story, calmly, in front of the man who wants him punished.

Beyond Shakespeare

If the notice says “classical, not necessarily Shakespeare,” these two give you a different voice. Check the period first: RADA’s rule names Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, which fits Marlowe but not the Restoration. Our guide to classical monologues that aren’t Shakespeare has more.

King Edward, “Leicester, if gentle words might comfort me” (men)

From Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, Act 5, Scene 1. Edward is a prisoner, and a bishop has come to take his crown for his young son. Knowing why the bishop has come, he tells the kind Earl of Leicester what it is to be a king who no longer rules. About 262 words by our count, roughly 1 minute 45 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Why it works: it moves from pride (a wounded lion, not a deer) to rage at Mortimer and the queen, to the bleak question But what are kings, when regiment is gone, / But perfect shadows in a sunshine day? It ends on a real question to the men in the room, whether he must resign. It’s Elizabethan and written in English, so it meets RADA’s classical rule.

Mrs. Marwood, “Indeed, Mrs. Engine, is it thus with you?” (women, comedic with a bite)

From William Congreve’s The Way of the World, Act 3. Marwood has overheard the maid, Foible, and Mrs. Fainall talking about Mirabell’s scheme, and about her: that she wants Mirabell and he can’t stand her. Alone, she plans revenge. About 237 words of prose by our count, roughly 1 minute 35 seconds (read it in the Gutenberg edition).

Why it works: it’s a soliloquy with a clear turn, from surprise to wounded pride to a decision. The wit has teeth, The devil’s an ass, and the last line, about the lady arriving panting ripe, sets up what comes next. It’s Restoration comedy, so use it where the notice allows any classical period.

The picks at a glance

Sorted by type, with the shortest version given above, by our counts. For more choices sorted by type, browse our monologue library.

• Dramatic, women: Hermione in The Winter’s Tale (about 263 words), Queen Katherine in Henry VIII (about 260 words, cut), Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (277 words; the play is a comedy, but the speech is played straight).
• Comedic, women: Rosalind in As You Like It (about 252 words), Mrs. Marwood in The Way of the World (about 237 words).
• Dramatic, men: King Edward in Edward II (about 262 words), Antony in Julius Caesar (about 268 words), Othello (about 283 words, cut).
• Comedic, men: Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (about 285 words).

For a contrasting pair inside a classical call, try Hermione with Rosalind, or Edward with Benedick: same period, different engines. Our guide to choosing contrasting monologues covers the rest.

Cutting a classical speech to two minutes

Every cut above follows the same rule: keep the opening, keep the turn, and end on a line that sounds like an ending. Katherine stops on her offer. Othello loses a vivid side trip, not a step in the story. In verse, cut at a clear pause in the sense and rejoin at the start of a new sentence, as the Othello cut does, even when that sentence starts mid-line.

One thing not to do: build a speech out of a scene. RADA’s procedure lists it among the don’ts, warning against assembling a speech from dialogue that depends heavily on another character’s interjections. A speech that only works because someone else is talking in between will look like half a scene.

To find out how far over you are, paste the text into the monologue timer, which lets you set a two-minute limit. Then cut setup the panel doesn’t need and beats that repeat an earlier one. Our step-by-step guide to how to cut a monologue walks through a full worked example. Then time three runs out loud, standing, at full energy, and use the slowest.

Learn it so it holds up for the full two minutes

Two minutes of verse is where memory slips show. You know the first ten lines cold, and somewhere around line twenty you’re reaching. The fix is to test yourself without the page early, cue by cue, and to practice the parts you know least, not the opening again.

In Offbook, you can hide your lines while everyone else’s stay visible, swap your words for first-letter cues as a step on the way, then hide the whole script for a final run. For a speech that answers someone, like Hermione’s or Othello’s, upload the scene and realistic voices read Leontes or the Duke, so you rehearse the moment that sets the speech off. Our free first-letter memorizer turns any pasted speech into first-letter cues, no account needed.

Rehearse on your laptop with the full scene on a big screen, and listen to it on your phone on the way to the audition. And read the whole play at least once. RADA asks you to know the rest of the play and the context of the speech, and an earlier Juilliard FAQ called reading the entire play essential.

Questions actors ask

What is a good two-minute classical monologue?

One with a listener, a clear want, and a turn, at roughly 220 to 280 words as printed. From Shakespeare, Hermione’s trial speech, Antony’s funeral speech, and Rosalind’s scolding of Phebe all run under two minutes as written. Outside Shakespeare, Edward’s speech to Leicester in Marlowe’s Edward II fits an Elizabethan or Jacobean requirement.

How many words is a two-minute monologue?

At an average pace of about 150 words a minute, two minutes is about 300 words, and our timer’s range of 120 to 160 words a minute gives 240 to 320. Pauses and big moments slow you down, so aim lower than the top of that range. Then time a real run, because your pace is what the panel hears.

What Shakespeare monologue is about two minutes long?

By our counts, Antony’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen” (about 268 words), Hermione’s “Since what I am to say” (about 263), and Titania’s “These are the forgeries of jealousy” (277) all run a little under two minutes at 150 words a minute. Two famous ones are in the same range in our library: “Is this a dagger” (263 words) and “To be, or not to be” (276).

How do I cut a classical monologue to two minutes?

Keep the opening, the turn, and a line that finishes the thought, and cut setup, side trips, and repeated beats first. In verse, cut between sentences, so you rejoin on a new thought. Don’t stitch dialogue together into a speech. If the notice forbids cuts, as the ESU competition does, choose a shorter piece instead.

Is going a few seconds over two minutes a problem?

It depends on the room. An earlier Juilliard FAQ said a few seconds over was fine, while Interlochen asks for less than two minutes and RADA says no longer than two minutes. Pick a speech that runs a little under the limit at your real pace, so you never have to rush the ending.