Rosalind — “Epilogue”
The play is over and the weddings are done. Rosalind steps out of the story to talk straight to the audience — teasing them, flirting, and openly playing with the fact that a boy actor is playing a girl who spent the play playing a boy. She wants to win the whole room over before she lets them go.
It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue; but
it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologue. If it
be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good play
needs no epilogue. Yet to good wine they do use good bushes; and
good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What a
case am I in then, that am neither a good epilogue, nor cannot
insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play! I am not
furnish'd like a beggar; therefore to beg will not become me. My
way is to conjure you; and I'll begin with the women. I charge
you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of
this play as please you; and I charge you, O men, for the love
you bear to women- as I perceive by your simp'ring none of you
hates them- that between you and the women the play may please.
If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that
pleas'd me, complexions that lik'd me, and breaths that I defied
not; and, I am sure, as many as have good beards, or good faces,
or sweet breaths, will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsy,
bid me farewell.
How to Play It
This is written to break the fourth wall, so it's one of the rare classical pieces you can play straight to the room (or the lens, for a self-tape that calls for it). The objective is seduction of a whole audience — charm them, dare them, flatter them into loving the show.
The trap is treating it as a cute curtsy. It's sharp and knowing; the gender-play in the last lines is a wink, not a throwaway. Keep it specific — talk to actual people, not a blur.
Direct address forces genuine connection, which is exactly what casting is measuring. Done well it feels startlingly modern.
A confident, playful choice for women in their 20s–30s, and a real change of gear next to a heavier dramatic piece. Prose, so it tests thought and phrasing rather than verse technique.
Want Will to Coach You Through It?
A monologue is a two-person scene where the other person never speaks. Working it 1-on-1 with a working actor is the fastest way to make it land.