Duologues and scenes for two actors
Ten two-handers from Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw and Chekhov. The situation explained, the full text, the spoken length, and one click to rehearse with the other actor voiced by qbuddy.
The scenes
Much Ado About Nothing · William Shakespeare
Beatrice and Benedick: "a kind of merry war"
I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you.
Beatrice, Benedick · 225 words · 2 min spoken
Romeo and Juliet · William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet: the balcony scene
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
Romeo, Juliet · 1,534 words · 12 min spoken
Macbeth · William Shakespeare
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth: "If we should fail?"
How now! what news?
Macbeth, Lady Macbeth · 467 words · 4 min spoken
Hamlet · William Shakespeare
Hamlet and Ophelia: "Get thee to a nunnery"
Good my lord, How does your honour for this many a day?
Hamlet, Ophelia · 406 words · 3 min spoken
The Taming of the Shrew · William Shakespeare
Kate and Petruchio: the first meeting
Good morrow, Kate; for that’s your name, I hear.
Petruchio, Katherina · 788 words · 6 min spoken
Twelfth Night · William Shakespeare
Viola and Olivia: "Make me a willow cabin at your gate"
Good madam, let me see your face.
Viola, Olivia · 482 words · 4 min spoken
A Midsummer Night's Dream · William Shakespeare
Oberon and Titania: "Ill met by moonlight"
Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
Oberon, Titania · 717 words · 6 min spoken
Othello · William Shakespeare
Othello and Iago: the temptation scene
Ha! ha! false to me?
Othello, Iago · 1,179 words · 9 min spoken
The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
Jack and Algernon: the cigarette case
How are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to town?
Algernon, Jack · 663 words · 5 min spoken
The Bear · Anton Chekhov, translated by Julius West
Popova and Smirnov: a widow, a creditor and a duel
Your late husband, with whom I had the honour of being acquainted, died in my debt for one thousand two hundred roubles, on two bills of exchange. As I’ve got…
Popova, Smirnov · 3,498 words · 27 min spoken
What a duologue is, and why panels ask for one
A duologue is a scene for two actors. The word is British; in the United States the same thing is a two-person scene or a two-hander. Drama schools ask for one at recall and showcases are built out of them, because a two-hander shows the thing a monologue cannot: whether you listen.
The scenes above are the ones people search for by name, from plays whose authors have been dead long enough that the text is free. Each page gives the situation in one paragraph, the text as printed in the source edition, the characters, and the length at a spoken pace.
Sorted for what you have been asked for: duologues for two females, comedy duologues, dramatic duologues, shakespeare duologues, short duologues.
How to rehearse a duologue when your partner is not there
- Learn the cues, not just your lines. Your line is an answer to theirs. Read the scene aloud playing both parts once, so the shape is in your ear.
- Get the other voice out of your head. Reading both parts silently trains you to hear yourself. Open the scene in qbuddy: the other role is voiced, cue mode waits for you, and the next cue plays when you have spoken.
- Run it at three speeds. Once slow for meaning, once at pace, once faster than you would ever play it. What survives the fast run is learned.
- Then bring the partner. When you finally rehearse together, the time goes on the scene, not on the words.
More on this in how actors learn their lines.
Questions people ask
- Where can I find duologues for two females?
- On this page: Viola and Olivia (Twelfth Night), Beatrice and Clarice (Goldoni, in the Italian library), and the Gwendolen and Cecily tea scene is next in the queue. Every scene lists its characters, so you can also read a male and female two-hander with two women; panels rarely object when the text is played honestly.
- Are these scenes free to use for auditions and drama school?
- Yes. The authors have been dead for more than seventy years, so the texts are in the public domain. Translations and modern adaptations carry their own rights; these are the original texts or public-domain translations, and each page names its source.
- How long should a duologue be for an audition?
- Most drama school and showcase briefs ask for two to four minutes. The spoken length on each card is at a natural pace, so a 500-word scene runs about four minutes; cut inside the scene rather than rushing it.
- How do I rehearse a duologue when my partner is not there?
- Open the scene in qbuddy. The other role is voiced, and cue mode gives you the cue and then waits: it does not learn the lines for you, it makes sure you always have something to answer. Read both parts aloud once first so the shape of the scene is in your ear, then run your part against the voice three times, slow, at pace, and faster than you would ever play it.
- Do you have comedy duologues and dramatic ones?
- Both, on their own pages. Comedy duologues: Beatrice and Benedick, Kate and Petruchio, Jack and Algernon, Popova and Smirnov. Dramatic duologues: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Hamlet and Ophelia, Othello and Iago, Oberon and Titania. Romeo and Juliet is whatever the night makes of it.
- What makes a good drama school audition duologue?
- A recall panel wants to see you listen and change your mind in front of them, so pick a scene where something is actually being decided and where your partner has as much to play as you do. Two to four minutes, close to your own age if you can manage it, and a text you have read all the way through: the first question afterwards is usually about the play.
Rehearse any of these tonight
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