Lady Macbeth — “Out, Damned Spot”
Deep in the night, sleepwalking and watched in secret by a doctor, Lady Macbeth relives the murders. The iron control of Act 1 is gone; her mind loops through blood she cannot wash off. She wants, desperately and unconsciously, to be clean again.
Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; two. Why, then ’tis time to do’t.
Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who
would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?
The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?—What, will these hands
ne’er be clean? No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all
with this starting.
Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will
not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!
Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so pale. I tell you
yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave.
To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come,
give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to
bed.
How to Play It
This is prose and it is fragmented on purpose — she is answering people who aren't there and reliving three different nights at once. Play each fragment as a real, present event. The shifts (scolding, smelling, washing, hearing the knock) are the whole piece; don't smooth them into one sad tone.
The trap is playing 'mad' or 'ghostly.' She isn't performing madness; she is genuinely trying to get the blood off and genuinely hears the knocking. Truthful, specific attention to the invisible things is far more chilling than atmosphere.
It's the same character as “Come, you spirits” after the wheels come off — pair the two and you show enormous range in a single audition.
A strong contrasting piece for women 20s–40s: quiet, interior, and under a minute. Because it's prose rather than the more-performed 1.5 speech, it lands a little fresher.
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.