What's your favourite Shakespeare speech?
© Johan Persson
"Alas, poor Yorick!", "Once more unto the breach…", "Friends, Romans, countrymen…" The number of superb speeches Shakespeare wrote is ludicrous. But which is your favourite? In the week leading up to April 23 – the day of the Bard's birth and also his death – we want you to pick out which speech from his canon you love.
Answer our poll below with the title of the play, the character who speaks it and the first line or recognisable line from the speech.
Here's a few of the faves from the WhatsOnStage office to jog your memory:
Sita McIntosh – Polonius' speech to Laertes in Hamlet : "This above all: to thine ownself be true".
Ben Hewis – Jacques's The Seven Ages of Man speech from As You Like It: "All the world's a stage".
Emily Cole – Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "If we shadows have offended".
Daisy Bowie-Sell – Hamlet in Hamlet: "To be, or not to be".
Chris Doyle – Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet: "I see Queen Mab hath been with you".
Colleen Brewer – Prologue from Romeo and Juliet: "Two households, both alike in dignity".
We'll announce the top three most loved next week.
