Our Revels Now Are Ended

Prospero, The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1, by William Shakespeare. Public domain. Intro and performance note by FreeSchoolPlays.com.

THE SPEECH IN PLAIN WORDS

Prospero, a magician on an enchanted island, has conjured a beautiful pageant of spirits to celebrate his daughter's engagement. Suddenly he remembers a danger and breaks off the spell, and the vision vanishes into thin air. Watching it disappear, he tells the young couple that everything -- the show, the great cities of the world, even a human life -- is just as unreal and short-lived. Then he apologizes for how troubled he suddenly seems.

THE MONOLOGUE

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex'd:
Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled.
Be not disturb'd with my infirmity.
If you be pleas'd, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk,
To still my beating mind.

PERFORMANCE NOTE

Begin gently, almost soothing the young couple, then let the thought grow larger than you expected -- by "the great globe itself" you are naming the whole world, and it should feel like standing at an edge. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" is the quiet center; do not push it, let its stillness carry the weight. The final lines snap back to a tired old man asking for patience, so drop the grandeur and let the vulnerability show.

This is the full, unaltered public-domain text (US); the introduction and performance note are by Monologue.Network via FreeSchoolPlays.com. Free to perform -- a single credit line is the only requirement.

Audition prep notes

Full piece: 1 beat, ~122 words -- very short (Under 2 minutes), about 1 min at a natural pace.

Start with the objective

Before you run it, name your character's objective in one sentence: what do they want in this moment, and what is in the way of getting it easily? Pace, volume, and movement all follow from that one sentence, not the other way around.

Map the beats

The current text renders as a single continuous block, with no internal paragraph breaks to key off of. Build your own beat map instead: mark every point where the character's tactic or target shifts -- a new argument, a new realization, a change in who or what they are speaking to -- and treat each as its own beat.

Pacing for this length -- very short

Economy is everything at this length: cut any preparatory movement before your first line, and land the final beat cleanly rather than adding a button. Under 2 minutes, this often plays as one unbroken thought.

Delivery approach -- Verse / Poetic

Honor the line, not just the sentence: breathe at the end of a verse line even when the punctuation runs on, and let the meter carry the emotional pulse instead of fighting it with naturalistic pauses.

Framing for All ages

This piece is written to read across age groups. Start from the plainest version of the objective -- what the character wants, and why now -- before layering in the nuance your own age and experience bring to it.

Forensics eligibility -- Poetry Interpretation

This piece reads as Poetry Interpretation. That classification is illustrative only -- not official, not an NSDA, NCFL, or UIL certification. Always verify current eligibility with your event's own published rules before entering it in competition.

Generic coaching guidance for actors preparing this piece -- not a substitute for your director's or coach's notes.

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