The Shakespeare App

Learn your lines by progressively removing words until you have mastered your dialog without prompting. Edit a play by deleting, reordering, or modifying dialog, then share your adaption with your entire cast. No more lined-out, worn-out script books.

READ
The app includes the full text of all Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. No unlocking or downloading required. It’s all there from the start.

Start reading from Act 1 Scene 1, or navigate to particular scenes with a couple of taps. A list of characters will show you how many words each part is assigned, then you can view only that character’s lines with short cue lines to give you context and prompts.

MEMORIZE
Start with the full text, then hide parts of your lines until you’re confident you can do the whole thing without prompting.

To be or not to be
To b_ or n__ t_ be
__ __ __ not __ be

If you can’t remember a line, just tap it to see the full text again.

The app also comes with a collection of popular monologues to help you with audition preparation. Add a character, monologue, or sonnet to a collection of favorites so you can quickly navigate to your roles.

ADAPT
Chances are that your Shakespeare performance is an abridged version of the original. If you’re directing, the app makes it easy to create your own adaptation. With a swipe, delete or reorder entire acts or lines of dialog. Fine tune your edits by directly editing the dialog text.

None of your edits damage the original play, so you can cut and reorder without fear of doing irreparable damage. When you start editing, the app creates a copy so that the original is left untouched.

PUBLISH
If you’re a director or dramaturge, you can distribute your adaptation to your entire cast or audience. An in-app purchase will allow you to upload your work to the cloud so that your cast can install it in their own apps by using a unique five-letter access code. Memorization and navigation features will work for your adaptation just like any other script in the app. If you make further changes to the script, your subscribers’ scripts will update automatically. Your script will also be available at TheShakespeareApp.com for any cast member to access with your code.