We Few, We Happy Few (St. Crispin's Day)
by William Shakespeare
Monologue · public domain · free to perform · attribution required
We Few, We Happy Few (St. Crispin's Day)
King Henry, Henry V, Act 4 Scene 3, by William Shakespeare. Public domain. Intro and performance note by FreeSchoolPlays.com.
THE SPEECH IN PLAIN WORDS
It is the morning of a battle Henry's small, worn-out army is expected to lose, and one of his men has wished for more soldiers. Instead of wishing, Henry reframes the whole day: because there are so few of them, the honor will be greater. He promises that anyone who survives will tell this story for the rest of his life, show off his scars, and be envied by everyone who stayed home. Fighting beside the king today, he says, makes even the lowest soldier his brother.
THE MONOLOGUE
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, "Tomorrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, "These wounds I had on Crispian's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered,
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
PERFORMANCE NOTE
The secret of this speech is that Henry is answering fear, so play the private worry underneath the confidence -- he is talking himself and his men into courage at the same time. Let the imagined future (the old soldier showing his scars years from now) feel real and even warm before you swing back to today. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" is the heart of it; slow down and mean it, then let the finish include the men themselves, not just the king.
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, ~222 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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