Classic scenes and poems.

OLIVER / ORLANDO · ~1 min

Orlando confronts his elder brother Oliver, who has kept him uneducated and unfit for a gentleman. The grievance breaks into open quarrel.

Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #1523, PG Shakespeare Team transcription (1998)

ALGERNON / JACK · ~1 min

Jack drops in on Algernon, claiming he came up to town for pleasure. Algernon suspects otherwise, and guards the cucumber sandwiches.

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest, Act I, Wikisource revision 9685868 (3 November 2019)

ROMEO / JULIET · ~1 min

At the Capulets’ feast, Romeo, a Montague, speaks to Juliet for the first time. Their first exchange is a shared sonnet that ends in a kiss.

Source: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, ed. Edward Dowden, The Arden Shakespeare, Methuen, 1900

BEATRICE / BENEDICK · ~1 min

Benedick is back from the war, and Beatrice picks their feud up exactly where they left it.

Source: Project Gutenberg eBook #1519, PG Shakespeare Team transcription, released 1 November 1998

ROMEO / JULIET · ~1 min

Night in the Capulets’ orchard. Juliet has promised to send word in the morning about the wedding, and neither of them can bring themselves to say good night.

Source: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, ed. Edward Dowden, The Arden Shakespeare, Methuen, 1900

SPEAKER · ~1 min

A beloved person is promised immortality through verse. The complete 1883 edition text.

Source: Shakespeare’s Sonnets, ed. William J. Rolfe, 1883

SPEAKER · ~1 min

A traveller describes the broken statue of a once-mighty king. The complete original poem.

Source: The Examiner, 11 January 1818