A solo class in which one performer speaks a single character's speech from a Shakespeare play, judged on how well the verse is understood, how clearly it is spoken and how believably the character is played within a short time limit.
Shakespearean Monologue is a solo speech and drama class in which one performer takes a speech spoken by a single character in a play by William Shakespeare and presents it to an adjudicator. The word "monologue" is the key: the performer plays one person speaking, at length, to an audience, to another character who is imagined, or to themselves. There is no partner to react to, no scenery to hide behind and very little time, so the marks are won by how much the performer understands about the character and how clearly that understanding is spoken.
In the two schedules we build from, the class is an individual entry for boys and girls together, in English, with a five-minute limit in a Toronto speech and drama festival and shorter limits in a Zimbabwean national schools festival. The Toronto festival runs it as one of six solo speech classes on a seven-step age ladder: Beginner for ages 6 to 8, Primary for 9 to 10, Elementary for 11 to 12, Junior for 13 to 14, Intermediate for 15 to 16, Senior for 17 to 18 and Advanced for 19 to 28. The Zimbabwean festival offers it only in its two older levels, Intermediate and Senior: two minutes for the Intermediate level (ages 14 to 17 as built here) and three minutes for the Senior level (18 and over).
A round is straightforward to run. The performer is called, says the title of the play and the name of the character, takes a moment and then performs with no scenery and little or no costume. Because Shakespeare's verse was written to be heard, a performer who rushes, drops the ends of lines or recites without picturing the situation is quickly noticed, while one who breathes at the punctuation, lets each thought run on across the line and plays what the character wants in every sentence is easy to follow even when some of the words are unfamiliar. At the end the adjudicator gives a mark and, in most festivals, spoken or written advice that the performer takes away.
Organisers run the class because it is the most direct test of speaking difficult, heightened language aloud, and because it links a speech and drama programme with plays that schools already teach. It also gives older and more experienced entrants a demanding step to aim for: in the Toronto schedule the same age ladder leads from Beginner to a young-adult Advanced tier, and the Zimbabwean schedule reserves its Shakespeare monologue for the senior part of its school levels.
Where Shakespearean Monologue comes from
The speeches come from the plays of William Shakespeare, written for the London stage in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Competing in the speaking of Shakespeare belongs to the British and international festival tradition of music, dance and speech, where verse speaking has long been a staple of the speech and drama sections, and where a Shakespeare class is often the senior step above general monologue and poetry classes.
Where Shakespearean Monologue is run
In eTalenter's data the class under the spelling Shakespearean Monologue appears in two templates: a speech and drama section of a Toronto, Canada, music festival, where it runs in all seven age tiers, and a Zimbabwean national schools speech and drama festival, where it is entered at two levels. The variant spelling Shakespearian Monologue is used in two Australian eisteddfod templates, which is the same class and so shares this page. It is a recognised festival class in the British-style speech and drama tradition, but it is not a worldwide item, and the catalogue keeps neighbouring classes such as the plain Shakespeare class, Shakespearean Duologue and Shakespearean Play Excerpt as separate items because their format differs.
- Canada - Ontario (Toronto music festival, speech and drama section)
- Zimbabwe (national schools speech and drama festival)
- Australia (eisteddfod speech and drama sections, under the spelling Shakespearian Monologue)
Key facts
- Individual entry: one performer, boys and girls together, in English; the monologue is a speech for one character.
- Toronto festival: seven age tiers from Beginner (6 to 8) to Advanced (19 to 28), five minutes in every tier, and adjudicator marks on a ten-point scale.
- Zimbabwean festival: Intermediate level with a two-minute maximum and Senior level with a three-minute maximum, where the syllabus states that the time shown is a maximum that must not be exceeded.
- Zimbabwean results are described in mark bands: Honours 90 and over, Distinction 80 and over, Merit 70 and over and Progressing 60 and over.
- Check each schedule for whether the text must be learnt by heart and for the date on which your age is counted; the schedules we build from do not print those rules in the class pages used here.
- Idea starters, not rules: Puck's closing speech from A Midsummer Night's Dream or Portia's mercy speech from The Merchant of Venice for younger tiers, Viola's speech about the ring from Twelfth Night or Mark Antony's funeral speech from Julius Caesar for the middle tiers, and one of Hamlet's soliloquies for the oldest entrants.
On eTalenter, Shakespearean Monologue is filed under Action and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 2 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Shakespearean Monologue is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 10, commonly time-limited to 2–5 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Shakespearean Monologue
What a Shakespearean Monologue panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Understanding of the text: the performer clearly knows who is speaking, to whom, what has just happened and what the speech is trying to achieve, and the audience can tell from the first lines.
- Verse speaking and sense: the thought runs across the line ends, breaths fall at the punctuation and the important word in each phrase is heard, so the sound serves the meaning rather than a sing-song rhythm.
- Characterisation: the speaker is a person with a want, a mood and a reason to speak now, shown through voice, posture and eyes rather than by pulling faces or over-acting.
- Clarity and projection: every word reaches the back of the room, with consonants finished and the voice supported at the end of long sentences.
- Control of time: the speech is cut so that it finishes inside the limit for the tier, with a pause before the first line and a held stillness after the last, because an over-long piece is the quickest way to lose marks.
- Commitment and truth: the performer believes the situation and does not comment on the character or apologise for the language, which is what separates a convincing speech from a recited one.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Shakespearean Monologue under Scoring Setup, or start from the full mono act judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Shakespearean Monologue
How entrants and their teachers usually get Shakespearean Monologue right on the day:
- Choose a speech that gives the character something to want, argue or decide, and that suits your age tier; a short speech you understand will always beat a famous one you only half follow.
- Paraphrase the speech aloud in plain modern words, line by line, until you can say what each sentence means and what the character hopes to achieve by saying it.
- Mark the text with a pencil: breaths at the punctuation, the key word in each line and the place where the thought changes, then speak it from that markup.
- Cut the speech with a stopwatch to your tier's limit, leaving a breath of silence at the start and the end; remember that the Toronto limit is five minutes but the Zimbabwean limits are two and three.
- Learn the words until you can say them while doing something else, then rehearse them standing still, so that you do not rely on moving about to cover a gap in memory.
- Decide where the speaker is looking and who they are talking to, and keep that eye line the same each time you run it.
- Perform for someone who does not know the play and ask them what the character wants; if they cannot tell, work on the opening lines first.
- On the day, introduce the play and character clearly, take a breath, hold your first position and stay in character until the final stillness is over.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shakespearean Monologue judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
How is a Shakespearean monologue different from a plain monologue class?
Both are solo performances of one voice, but here the text must come from a play by Shakespeare. That means heightened verse or prose that the performer has to make clear to modern listeners, which is a different task from speaking a modern or own-choice piece.
Is it the same as the Shakespeare class?
It is closely related, but the catalogue keeps them separate because the schedules differ. A plain Shakespeare class is entered in a Vancouver speech arts division and a Scottish festival; Shakespearean Monologue is the Toronto and Zimbabwe class, and the monologue label means a speech for a single character.
How long can my performance be?
It depends on the schedule. The Toronto festival allows five minutes in every age tier, while the Zimbabwean festival allows two minutes at Intermediate level and three minutes at Senior level, and states that the time shown is a maximum.
What is the age range?
In the Toronto schedule it runs from Beginner (ages 6 to 8) up to Advanced (19 to 28) in seven tiers. In the Zimbabwean schedule it is offered at Intermediate and Senior levels only, built here as ages 14 to 17 and 18 and over.
Is Shakespearian Monologue the same class?
Yes. Shakespearian is a variant spelling of Shakespearean, used in two Australian eisteddfod templates, and both spellings describe a solo monologue taken from a Shakespeare play.
Do I have to learn the speech by heart?
The class pages used for this page do not print a rule on memory, so check your own festival's syllabus. In practice a speech that is secure from memory is much easier to perform with real eye contact and character.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full mono act judging criteria guide, or browse every action competition item.
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See every ready-made template that runs Shakespearean Monologue, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
