Romeo and Juliet Audition Details

Romeo and Juliet Audition Details

Romeo and Juliet is a story about love and war; what happens to people when they do not act in a way that is peaceful. How long does someone hold a grudge against another? And how childish this fight between two houses is.

★ Romeo:

• Woman
• Montague, only child, likeable, charming, impulsive, big, bold, moon.

★ Juliet:

• Woman
• Capulet, only child, strong, innocent, gutsy, clever, loveable, impulsive, sun.

★ Nurse/Lady Montague/The Apothecary:

• Woman
• Nurse is a Capulet, and she has grown up with Juliet her whole life, very comedic, charming.
• Lady Montague is the wife of Montague, very caring, and wants the best for Romeo.
• The Apothecary is the woman who sells poisons and she sells them to women who want to kill their terrible husbands (this actually happened). (Neutral)

★ Mercutio/Prince/Friar John:

• Any gender
• Montague
• Mercutio is Romeo's friend, and also related to the Prince. Mercutio is loud, impulsive, fun, charming, energetic, bold, outgoing.
• Prince is related to Mercutio and Paris. The Prince is level headed, trying to keep the peace in fair Verona, the authority figure.
• Friar John does not speak, it is an interaction between Friar Lawrence and John gives Lawrence’s letter back to them because there is a plague in Mantua.

★ Capulet:

• Man
• Capulet
• Capulet is the Father of Juliet, his only child. He is demanding, he wants to protect Juliet but he is not doing the best job at that. He is brash and angry, and he is not on the same page as Juliet and the rest of the world of the play. He loves her and is trying his hardest to get her out of her grief but he does not realize that marraige to Paris cannot solve her problems. 

★ Lady Capulet:

• Woman
• Capulet
• Lady Capulet wants the best for her daughter, generational trauma, she is doing to Juliet what her mother did to her and now Juliet has to live the same life as Lady Capulet because that's the only way she knows the world works. She cares, but she is also controlling and she obsesses over details and wants things to be perfect.

★ Paris:

• Man
• Capulet
• Related to the Prince. Is to be married to Juliet, thoughtful, protective.

★ Benvolio:

• Any gender
• Montague
• Cousin of Romeo, open minded, respectful, supportive, peaceful.

★ Friar Lawrence: (Tybalt and Lawrence may be played by the same actor)

• Any gender
• Neutral
• Calm, holy man, faithful, trustworthy, intelligent, cares about Romeo and Juliet, helpful.

★ Montague:

• Any gender
• Montague
• Loves Romeo, very supportive, caring.

★ Tybalt:

• Any gender
• Capulet, cousin of Juliet
• Peacock, passionate, rash, brave, impulsive, violent.

Monologues:

JULIET/ROMEO

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? 
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, 
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; 
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, 
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part 
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! 
What's in a name? that which we call a rose 
By any other name would smell as sweet; 
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, 
Retain that dear perfection which he owes 
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, 
And for that name which is no part of thee 
Take all myself.

CAPULET/TYBALT/PARIS

God's bread! it makes me mad:

Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, 

Alone, in company, still my care hath been

To have her match'd: and having now provided 

A gentleman of noble parentage,

Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd, 

Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts, 

Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man; 

And then to have a wretched puling fool,

A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender, 

To answer 'I'll not wed; I cannot love,

I am too young; I pray you, pardon me.' 

But, as you will not wed, I'll pardon you:

Graze where you will you shall not house with me: 

Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.

Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise: 

An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;

And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, 

For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,

Nor what is mine shall never do thee good: 

Trust to't, bethink you; I'll not be forsworn.

ROMEO/JULIET

'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here, 

Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog 

And little mouse, every unworthy thing, 

Live here in heaven and may look on her. 

But Romeo may not; she is banished: 

Flies may do this, but I from this must fly: 

They are free men, but I am banished.

And say'st thou yet that exile is not death?

Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, 

No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, 

But 'banished' to kill me?.'banished'?

O friar, the damned use that word in hell; 

Howlings attend it: how hast thou the heart, 

Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,

A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd, 

To mangle me with that word 'banished'?

MERCUTIO/LADY CAPULET

Nay, an there were two such, we should

have none shortly, for one would kill the other. 

Thou– why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that 

hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than 

thou hast. What eye but such an eye would spy 

out such a quarrel? Thy head is a full quarrels as 

an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been

beaten as addle as an egg for quarreling. Thou hast 

quarreled with a man for coughing in the street 

because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain 

asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor 

for wearing his new doublet before Easter? With 

another, for tying his new shoes with old ribbon?

And yet thou wilt tutor me from quarreling?

BENVOLIO/NURSE/FRIAR LAWRENCE

Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay; 

Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink 

How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal 

Your high displeasure: all this uttered

With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, 

Could not take truce with the unruly spleen

Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts 

With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast, 

Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,

And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats 

Cold death aside, and with the other sends

It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity, 

Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,

'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and, swifter than his tongue, 

His agile arm beats down their fatal points,

And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm 

An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life

Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled; 

But by and by comes back to Romeo, 

Who had but newly entertain'd revenge, 

And to 't they go like lightning, for, ere I

Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain. 

And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly.