This page lists all the scenes from the plays in the canon, and has been compiled in response to requests from teachers and theatre practitioners who want to 'cast' scenes with small groups of students.
This page shows
- the characters that appear in each scene
- How many characters appear in each scene
- and whether there are non-speaking characters (such as attendants) - indicated by Yes / No
This information has been sourced from the modern editions on this website.
Scene divisions sometimes vary between different editions of the texts, and so, for example, the results would be slightly different if the Folio text was used to gather this information.
How to use this information
If you're studying a particular play, ‘sort’ the table by clicking the top of the left-hand column and the list will display in alphabetical order by play name.
Then, let’s say the play you’re working on is Romeo and Juliet, and you want to present a scene with less than 4 characters in it. You’ll quickly see you have a good deal of choice. Act I scene iii could work.
Or, if you want a scene with 3 speaking characters, and several background characters, go for Act I scene iv.
And if you want to find all the scenes a particular character is in, e.g. Benedick, simply type the name into the search box.
Although do be aware that sometimes a character's name features in several plays, e.g. Antonio.
This table is also good for any trivia or quiz enthusiasts!:
- How many scenes are there in all of Shakespeare's plays?
- Which play has most scenes?
- Which are the scenes which have most characters?
- Which scenes have just one character in them?
Enjoy exploring Shakespeare’s Words like never before!