Macbeth Audition Materials
Speech #1 – Lady Macbeth
In this moment, Lady M has just read a letter from her husband telling her that he has been
given new honors that were predicted by the Three Witches or Weird Sisters; the same Witches
have prophesied that he will become King. She has just been told that Duncan, the current King,
is on his way to celebrate and spend the night at their house.
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'
Speech #2 – Macbeth
Macbeth has been lauded with new honors that were predicted by the Witches; they also
prophesied that he would be King. Duncan, the current King, has just arrived to celebrate and
spend the night at Macbeth’s castle. He has just been strongly urged by his wife to take Fate
into his own hands and to murder Duncan in his sleep, thereby clearing the way for Macbeth to
become King. As he considers his options, some of the things he weighs in this speech: that
Duncan is a distant cousin and his King; that he, as the host, should be the one to ensure
Duncan’s safety; that he has been an extremely virtuous and popular King, which means that
(perhaps most importantly) he has no reason to commit the crime except for his own ambition.
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other.
Speech #3 – Midsummer Night’s Dream
This is obviously not from Macbeth; I wanted to offer a more neutral speech if you didn’t feel
like tackling one of the others. Another advantage to this speech is that the meter is quite a bit
easier; unlike much of Shakespeare’s regular meter (iambic pentameter), this speech is in
trochaic tetrameter (meaning eight syllables a line, more or less, with the accent on 1, 3, 5, and
7; please don’t punch those too much, it’s just a guide).
PUCK
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.