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Shakespeare in performance /

Character breakouts for Shakespeare reading groups

Gather some friends to read aloud a Shakespeare play together.

a group of actors rehearsing a scene
a group of actors rehearsing a scene

We’ve done all the work to figure out who should read which role. Now you just need to assemble your actors!

The PDFs linked to below have tables that show the scene-by-scene breakdown of which actors should play which characters. Most actors (if they are not the leads) will play multiple characters throughout the play, just as they often do in professional theater companies. Some Shakespeare character lists can look intimidatingly long at first, but the plays are designed to let actors double up on roles.

The full text of each play is freely available from The Folger Shakespeare. Character names match what you’ll find in the text itself, which may not always be exactly the same as what appears in the character lists at the beginning of the play.

Actor/Character breakout by scene for 13 popular Shakespeare plays

Alphabetically arranged by play name

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

As You Like It

Hamlet

Henry V

Julius Caesar

King Lear

Macbeth

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello

Richard III

Romeo and Juliet

The Tempest

Twelfth Night

Do you already have a set number of actors?

Find a play to fit your group size.

7 actors

As You Like It

8 actors

The Tempest

9 actors

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hamlet
Henry V
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet

10 actors

Much Ado About Nothing
Twelfth Night

We have done our best to ensure accuracy and completeness, but if you find any errors in these PDFs, we would appreciate if you would let us know by sending an email to info@folger.edu. Thank you!