Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Macbeth, Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5, by William Shakespeare. Public domain. Intro and performance note by FreeSchoolPlays.com.

THE SPEECH IN PLAIN WORDS

Macbeth has murdered his way to the throne and now waits, cornered, for an army closing in. Word arrives that his wife -- his partner in everything -- has died. He feels almost nothing, only a numb sense that it would have happened sooner or later. In that emptiness he decides that all of life is a pointless, repeating march toward death: a burnt-out candle, an actor who struts for an hour and is gone, a story that means nothing at all.

THE MONOLOGUE

She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

PERFORMANCE NOTE

Resist playing loud despair -- the horror here is how little Macbeth feels. Start hollow and flat, as if the news barely registers, and let "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" drag with real weariness, not music. "Out, out, brief candle!" can flare for a moment before collapsing back into emptiness. Land "Signifying nothing" as a full stop, spent and cold; the actor who resists the urge to sob will chill the room far more.

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, ~90 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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