Scenes for Two Women: Nine Classic Two-Woman Scenes With Setups and Run Times

Your teacher pairs you with the other woman in class and says, “Find a scene by Thursday.” You both go looking and hit the same wall. The famous classical scenes are a woman and a man, the scene books are full of partners who are lovers, and the two-woman scenes you do find turn out to be one long speech with a friend who says “Indeed?” every so often.

There are good ones, though, and the classics have more than you’d think. They’re just scattered through plays people know for other reasons: a tea party in the middle of a Wilde comedy, a midnight talk in a Shaw play that was banned, a frightened visitor in the first act of Hedda Gabler.

The short version: below are nine scenes for two women from public-domain plays, each with where it sits in the play, what is going on, what each woman wants, how the lines split between you, and how long it runs out loud. Four play as comedy and five as drama. All of the text is free, and every quoted line here was checked word for word against the play’s Project Gutenberg text. For scenes with other casts, our acting scripts to practice page lists two-person scenes of every kind.

What makes a good scene for two women

The test is the same one any duet has to pass, and it is stricter than it sounds. Theatrefolk’s guide to performing in pairs asks for a scene that features both actors, not a run of monologues for one with one-line replies for the other, and one where both characters go through an emotional change. It also says to look for a power struggle and to read the whole play before you rehearse.

Classroom rules lean the same way. A lesson on picking group scenes from BYU’s theatre education database asks for a 3 to 5 minute scene in which everyone has an equal workload. Competition rules are tighter still: the Educational Theatre Association’s Thespys acting rules cap a duet at five minutes, allow two chairs, and require every participant to be actively involved.

That gives four questions to ask of any scene below:

• Do both women want something? Not just one woman with a problem and a friend who listens. Both need a goal that the other is in the way of, or can give.
• Does the power change hands? The best of these scenes start with one woman in charge and end with the other on top, or with both knocked sideways.
• How do the lines split? We counted the words for each part, so you know before you start whether it’s an even fight or a lead and a feed.
• How long is it? Run times below are spoken words at 140 a minute with stage directions removed, the same method our play library uses. Pauses and business will add to them.

One piece of history helps explain why Shakespeare’s two-woman scenes are short and few. The Folger Shakespeare Library’s history of the first English actresses notes that until December 8, 1660, when a woman played Desdemona, women’s parts on the English professional stage were played by men, young men, or boys. Shakespeare wrote his women’s parts for boys and young men in companies of men, and his women are seldom alone together on stage. The few scenes where two of them are alone together are worth knowing.

Comedy scenes for two women

Comedy between two women in these plays usually runs on politeness under pressure, or on a best friend who knows you better than you’d like. Play them fast. The laughs are in the timing, and timing only comes with the words cold.

Gwendolen and Cecily take tea

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, Act 2. Gwendolen arrives at the country house and meets Cecily. They swear to be great friends, then find they are both engaged to “Ernest,” and the fight goes on over the tea things while the butler lays the table. About 10 minutes from Pray let me introduce myself to trespassing on your valuable time. Gwendolen has about 870 words to Cecily’s 480; the butler, Merriman, has one line.

What each wants: Gwendolen wants Cecily out of the way, and to stay a lady while she does it. Cecily wants the same, and she has home ground. Here is the moment the manners crack:

CECILY: Do you suggest, Miss Fairfax, that I entrapped Ernest into an engagement? How dare you? This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade.

GWENDOLEN: I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.

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

Rehearsal key: Gwendolen’s first speech includes My first impressions of people are never wrong. Her last says her first impressions are invariably right, about the same girl, with the opposite verdict. Play the first one as a compliment you believe, and the scene has somewhere to go. The full play is in our Earnest play guide.

Rosalind and Celia: “how full of briers”

As You Like It, Shakespeare, Act 1, Scene 3. Rosalind has just fallen for Orlando at the wrestling, and her cousin Celia teases her for it, until Celia’s father, Duke Frederick, banishes Rosalind from court. Celia refuses to be parted from her, and the two plan to run away to the Forest of Arden, Rosalind dressed as a man. The whole scene runs about 8 minutes, and the Duke has the middle of it. The two duets on either side are just the cousins: about 2 minutes of prose before he enters, and about 3 of verse after he leaves.

What each wants: in the first duet Celia wants to cheer Rosalind up and Rosalind wants to be left to her mood (O, how full of briers is this working-day world!). In the second, Celia wants to go with her, and wins. This is one of the rare Shakespeare scenes where the lines split almost evenly; Celia actually has more words. It ends on Celia’s couplet, Now go we in content / To liberty, and not to banishment. See the As You Like It play guide for the whole play.

Portia and Nerissa sort the suitors

The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare, Act 1, Scene 2. Portia’s dead father has left a lottery for her hand: her husband will be whoever picks the right one of three chests. Her waiting-woman Nerissa names the suitors who have come so far, and Portia takes each one apart. It opens on By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world. About 8 minutes, nearly all prose, with one speech for a servant at the end.

What each wants: Portia wants to choose her own husband and can’t. Nerissa wants her mistress out of her gloom and nudges her toward a name, Bassanio. The split is uneven (Portia has about 790 words to Nerissa’s 315), so Nerissa’s job is to feed, steer, and react, which is good training in its own right. The Merchant of Venice play guide has the full text.

Hero and Ursula bait a trap for Beatrice

Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1. Hero and her gentlewoman Ursula walk in the garden and talk, loudly, about how Benedick is sick with love for Beatrice, knowing Beatrice is hiding in the bower to listen. When they leave, Beatrice steps out with a ten-line speech: What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? About 6 and a half minutes.

What each wants: Hero wants Beatrice to hear every word without knowing she was meant to. Ursula wants the same, and gets the image for it: they are angling, and Beatrice is the fish. It is really a scene for three women (Margaret also has one line at the top, which can go), so a pair can share it two ways: run it as Hero and Ursula and give Beatrice’s speech to whoever has fewer lines, or bring in a third actor. Hero closes the trap with Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. The Much Ado play guide has the rest.

Dramatic scenes for two women

The dramatic scenes are almost all about a secret, and about one woman finding out how much the other has hidden. Decide early what your character knows that the other doesn’t, because that is what you play.

Antigone and Ismene

Antigone, Sophocles, translated by Francis Storr, the opening before the Chorus enters. Their brothers have killed each other, and Creon has forbidden anyone to bury one of them. Antigone asks her sister to help her bury him anyway; Ismene is afraid to break the law. About 5 and a half minutes, Antigone 458 words to Ismene’s 314, and it fits a five-minute slot with one small cut. Near the end, the scene comes down to single lines traded like blows:

ISMENE: Thou hast a fiery soul for numbing work.

ANTIGONE: I pleasure those whom I would liefest please.

ISMENE: If thou succeed; but thou art doomed to fail.

ANTIGONE: When strength shall fail me, yes, but not before.

Source: Sophocles, Antigone, translated by Francis Storr, Project Gutenberg edition.

The trap is playing Ismene as weak. She loves her sister and is terrified for her, and that is what she fights for. The Antigone play guide has the full translation.

Desdemona and Emilia, the willow scene

Othello, Shakespeare, Act 4, Scene 3. Othello has ordered Desdemona to bed and told her to send Emilia away. As Emilia helps her undress, Desdemona sings the willow song and asks whether any wife would really betray her husband. About 5 and a half minutes, split almost evenly. Desdemona asks the question twice, Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?, and Emilia’s answer, The world’s a huge thing, leads a few lines later to her speech on what husbands owe their wives, the heart of the scene. The Othello play guide has the full text.

Nora and Mrs Linde

A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp, Act 1. An old school friend Nora hasn’t seen for years arrives, widowed and broke, looking for work. (She is Christine Linde in this translation, Kristine in many others.) When Mrs Linde calls her a child, Nora tells her the secret: she borrowed the money that saved her husband’s life, and has been paying it back without his knowledge. The whole visit runs about 21 minutes; from Nora’s I know so little of them? to the doorbell it is about 11.

What each wants: Nora wants, for once, to be taken seriously. Mrs Linde wants a job, and the truth. This one fails the both-actors test unless you cut: in the 11-minute stretch Nora has about 1,220 words to Mrs Linde’s 280. For class, keep every one of Mrs Linde’s questions and trim Nora’s long speeches hardest, and the split starts to even out. You are a child, Nora. is the line the scene turns on. The A Doll’s House play guide has the full play.

Hedda and Thea

Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen, translated by Edmund Gosse and William Archer, Act 1. Mrs Elvsted, an old schoolfellow of Hedda’s, has come to town to look for Eilert Lovborg. Once Hedda’s husband leaves the room, Hedda gets the whole story out of her: Thea has left her husband and her home to follow Lovborg. It runs about 10 minutes, from There! We have killed two birds with one stone to Hedda’s warning that everything must stay between them.

What each wants: Hedda wants to know everything and give nothing away. Thea wants a friend, and gets an interrogator. Note the split: Thea has more words, about 830 to Hedda’s 570, because Hedda works almost entirely by questions. The best tiny moment is near the start, when Hedda calls her my dear Thora and she has to answer My name is Thea.

This scene has a fitting history. The first London Hedda Gabler, at the Vaudeville Theatre on 20 April 1891, was run by two actresses: IbsenStage’s record of that production lists it under the joint management of Elizabeth Robins, who played Hedda, and Marion Lea, who played Thea. The play is not in our library yet; the free text is on Project Gutenberg.

Vivie and Mrs Warren

Mrs Warren’s Profession, Bernard Shaw, Act 2. Vivie, who has just tied for third wrangler in the Cambridge mathematics exams, is alone at night with a mother she says she hardly knows. She asks Who are you? What are you?, and her mother answers with the story of how she rose from poverty by running brothels. The play was written in 1893 and banned by the Lord Chamberlain, Britain’s stage censor, and its first performance was a private one in London on 5 January 1902, as the play’s Wikipedia entry records.

What each wants: Vivie wants the truth and her independence. Mrs Warren wants her daughter’s love and respect. The whole duologue runs about 22 minutes, so split it. Part one, to Youre very rough with me, Vivie (Shaw drops the apostrophes), is about 6 minutes, and Vivie leads it. Part two is Mrs Warren’s story, about 16 minutes, and near its end Vivie tells her, you are stronger than all England. The Mrs Warren’s Profession play guide has the full play.

How to cut a long scene to five minutes

Every one of these nine runs past the five-minute duet limit uncut, some only just, and a class slot is often shorter still. Cutting a duet is different from cutting a monologue, because every cut changes your partner’s part too. Do it together, at a table, with the same edition in front of you.

1. Read the whole play, or at least the act. The Theatrefolk guide says the same, and you can’t cut well without knowing what happened to both women before the scene.
2. Find the turn: the line where the power changes hands. In Earnest it’s the diaries; in A Doll’s House it’s Nora’s secret. Keep the turn and the ending, and cut toward them.
3. Cut whole thoughts, never half a line. A cut that starts mid-sentence leaves your partner without a cue.
4. Balance as you go. After every cut, count roughly who has what. If one of you is down to a few words a page, give back a speech.
5. Cut people before you cut lines. A servant’s single line can go, or be read from offstage, as long as the scene still makes sense without it.
6. Time it out loud at speed, then cut once more. Theatrefolk advises landing well under the maximum; nerves and pauses add time.

For a single speech rather than a scene, our guide to cutting a monologue covers the same moves in more detail.

Learn it before you meet your partner

A two-woman scene lives on cues. Gwendolen and Cecily’s tea fight only works if each line lands right on the end of the last one, and Antigone’s single lines are no good with a gap in between. So learn your cues with your lines, not just your lines: the last few words before you speak are what tell you to come in. Our free cue script maker turns any scene into your lines with their cues.

If your partner can’t meet until Thursday, you can still run the scene: in Offbook, a realistic voice reads the other woman’s lines and the next cue plays when you finish yours, as the video below shows. Hide your own lines as they settle, so that by the first real rehearsal you’re working on the scene, not the words.

When you do meet, swap parts once. Playing Cecily for a run makes you a sharper Gwendolen, because you feel exactly where her jabs land. For a full week’s plan with a partner, see how to prepare a scene for acting class, and for the days you’re on your own, how to rehearse a scene by yourself.

Questions actors ask

What are good scenes for two women from classic plays?

For comedy, Gwendolen and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2, and Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It, Act 1, Scene 3. For drama, Antigone and Ismene at the start of Antigone, Desdemona and Emilia in Othello, Act 4, Scene 3, and Hedda and Thea in Hedda Gabler, Act 1. All are in the public domain, so the text is free to read and perform.

Where can I find a two-person scene for two actresses?

Look inside full plays, not just scene books, and start with the plays above. Our acting scripts page lists two-person classical scenes with run times, and the play library shows how big each part is in every play, which is a quick way to find two women with real lines in the same act.

What is a good female duet scene for a five-minute limit?

Antigone and Ismene, or Desdemona and Emilia, both about 5 and a half minutes uncut, with fairly even splits; a small cut brings either one in under five. Rosalind and Celia’s two duets in As You Like It, Act 1, Scene 3, also work if you join them, cut the Duke, and let your introduction explain the banishment.

Are there two-woman scenes in Shakespeare?

Yes, but fewer than you’d expect. His women’s parts were written for boys and young men, and his women are seldom alone together on stage. Besides the four above, look at Viola and Olivia in Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5, and Juliet and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5, both on our acting scripts page.

Can we change the words in a classical scene?

Cutting is normal and expected in class and competition. Rewording is different: keep the playwright’s words, and if a line is archaic, look it up rather than swap it. Check your competition’s rules too, since some set conditions on the material.