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Cue script maker: your lines and your cues, nothing else

Paste a script and pick your role. The cue script maker keeps only your lines and puts the last few words of the speech before each one above it, the way Shakespeare’s actors learned their parts. Print it or copy it. It is free, it runs in your browser, and you do not need an account.

Free · No sign-up · Runs in your browser

Start each speech with the character's name: HAMLET: line, HAMLET. line, or screenplay layout with the name on its own line.

Cue length (words):

Marcellus: cue script

  1. Cue: to this ground.

    And liegemen to the Dane.

  2. Cue: you good night.

    O, farewell, honest soldier: Who hath relieved you?

  3. Cue: you good night.

    Holla! Bernardo!

  4. Cue: welcome, good Marcellus.

    What, has this thing appear’d again to-night?

  5. Cue: have seen nothing.

    Horatio says ’tis but our fantasy, And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us: Therefore I have entreated him along With us to watch the minutes of this night; That if again this apparition come, He may approve our eyes and speak to it.

What is a cue script?

In the Elizabethan and Jacobean theater, actors did not get a copy of the whole play. Each actor received a part: their own speeches, written out in order, with a cue before each one. The cue was the end of the speech before, often only one to three words. The full play existed in the playhouse copy, and nobody needed to read it to learn a role.

Parts were written on strips of paper joined into a long roll, which is where the word role comes from: the French rôle is a roll. Very few survive. The best known is the part Edward Alleyn used for the title role of Robert Greene's Orlando Furioso, kept at Dulwich College in London. Simon Palfrey and Tiffany Stern's book Shakespeare in Parts (Oxford University Press, 2007) studies how Shakespeare wrote for actors who worked this way.

Why rehearse from cues

A cue script trains the one thing a full script lets you skip: knowing when to speak. With only a few words to go on, you cannot drift through the other characters' lines. You have to listen for your cue and answer it, which is exactly what happens on stage.

It also makes a clean self-test. Cover your lines, read the cue, say your speech, then check. Start with three-word cues, and shorten them to one word when the scene is solid. For long speeches, the first-letter memorizer helps you learn the words themselves. To hear the cues read aloud instead of reading them, the run lines online tool reads the other parts and waits for you.

On paper, a cue is a few words. In rehearsal, it is another actor's whole speech, with its rhythm and its pauses. In Offbook, AI voices read every other character, and Offbook listens while you say your lines and plays the next cue when you finish.

How to use your cue script

  1. Read the whole play or scene first, so you know the story your lines belong to.
  2. Paste the scene, pick your role, and choose a cue length. Print it, or keep it open on your screen.
  3. Cover everything below the first cue. Read the cue, say your line out loud, and check it.
  4. Mark every line you miss and drill those cues again before you move on.
  5. Check how big the part is with the script line counter, and plan how many speeches to learn each day.

Questions

What is a cue script?

A cue script is one actor’s part on its own: their speeches in order, each with a short cue, the last few words of the speech before it. Actors in Shakespeare’s theater learned their roles from parts like this rather than from a full copy of the play.

How many words should a cue be?

Cues in parts from Shakespeare’s time were short, often one to three words. Three words is a good place to start: enough to recognize the moment, short enough that you have to listen for it. Drop to one or two words when you know the scene well.

Can I print my cue script?

Yes. The Print button prints only the cue script, in black on white, with each cue set to the right above your lines. To keep a file instead, choose "Save as PDF" in your browser’s print dialog. The Copy button copies it as plain text.

Is my script uploaded anywhere?

No. The cue script maker runs in your browser. The script you paste is not sent to Offbook or stored on a server, and it is gone when you close the page.

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