Shakespeare · Soliloquies & Solo Speeches
Production Notes
Julia, disguised as the page Sebastian, has just been given a message to deliver to Silvia from the man she herself loves — Proteus. In this brief speech she holds Silvia’s picture and measures herself against her rival. The comedy of disguise curdles into something genuinely painful: Julia is an audience to her own displacement.
Excellent for Players exploring the gap between what a character says and what a character feels. The speech is conversational in register but the stakes beneath it are acute.
Script
JULIA
Alas, how love can trifle with itself! Here is her picture; let me see. I think If I had such a tire, this face of mine Were full as lovely as is this of hers; And yet the painter flattered her a little, Unless I flatter with myself too much. Her hair is auburn; mine is perfect yellow; If that be all the difference in his love, I’ll get me such a colored periwig. Her eyes are gray as glass, and so are mine. Ay, but her forehead’s low, and mine’s as high. What should it be that he respects in her But I can make respective in myself If this fond Love were not a blinded god?
Facilitator Notes
Warm-up: Try a mirroring game — one Player leads small physical adjustments while the other copies. Then flip: who is the original?
Debrief prompts:
- Julia lists her features against Silvia’s one by one. Where does her confidence slip? Where does she rally it?
- The speech ends with a question, not a conclusion. What does Julia decide not to decide?
- What does it mean to play a scene where you are performing for yourself? Where is the audience in this speech?
- How does knowing Julia’s full situation change the way a Player might deliver “Alas, how love can trifle with itself”?