William Shakespeare
Cymbeline
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
A wronged princess, a jealous husband, a villain's wager and a lost pair of royal brothers bring Britain and Rome to battle.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (131 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (117 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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- Genre
- Romance
- Written
- c. 1609–1610
- Setting
- Britain, Wales and Rome
- Scenes
- 27
- Speaking roles
- 42
- Uncut running time
- ~3h 20m
What happens in Cymbeline
Imogen, daughter of King Cymbeline of Britain, secretly marries Posthumus Leonatus, a gentleman raised at court. Cymbeline banishes him. In Rome, the villain Iachimo bets Posthumus that he can seduce Imogen, fails, and smuggles himself into her room in a trunk to gather false evidence. Posthumus believes the lie and orders his servant Pisanio to kill her. Pisanio instead helps her escape, disguised as a boy named Fidele.
In the Welsh mountains Imogen meets Belarius and two young men who are in fact her lost brothers, kidnapped in infancy. Cymbeline, urged on by his scheming queen, refuses to pay tribute to Rome and Roman forces invade. Posthumus fights for Britain, and a final scene of recognition resolves the many strands.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 42 characters speak; 24 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Imogen | | 123 |
| Posthumus Leonatus | | 78 |
| Iachimo | | 79 |
| Belarius | | 61 |
| Cloten | | 82 |
| Cymbeline | | 89 |
| Pisanio | | 60 |
| Queen | | 36 |
For directors
The cast is spread among several leads: Imogen speaks about 16 percent of the words, Posthumus 12, Iachimo 12 and Belarius 9. With 42 speaking roles, 24 of them under 1 percent, the play offers many small parts and is well suited to doubling, such as the queen's son Cloten and Posthumus. The uncut estimate of 200 minutes is long, and the final scene is especially so, so cutting is almost always required. Imogen requires a skilled lead.
Cutting notes
- Jupiter's descent and the prophecy in Act V are sometimes cut or simplified, since they demand elaborate spectacle.
- Condense the final scene's sequence of recognitions, which are repeated in turn.
- Thin the Roman and British military dialogue to the scenes needed to set up the battle.
For teachers
Students study the romance genre, with its separated families, disguise, apparent death and reunion. Common themes are jealousy and trust, the relation of Britain to Rome, and the idea of virtue tested. Frequently taught material includes the wager scene, the trunk scene in Imogen's bedchamber, Imogen's discovery of the headless body, and the long recognition scene. It is often compared with The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of Cymbeline?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 27 scenes and about 26,900 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this Cymbeline script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
