William Shakespeare
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
A prince's sea-borne wanderings, a lost wife and a lost daughter, narrated by the poet Gower, lead to one of Shakespeare's great reunions.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (92 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (82 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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- Genre
- Romance
- Written
- c. 1607–1608
- Setting
- Antioch, Tyre, Tarsus, Pentapolis, Mytilene and Ephesus
- Scenes
- 22
- Speaking roles
- 47
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 10m
What happens in Pericles, Prince of Tyre
The poet Gower introduces Pericles, Prince of Tyre, who flees Antioch after discovering the king's secret. He survives famine, shipwreck and a tournament in Pentapolis, where he wins the princess Thaisa. During a storm at sea she appears to die in childbirth and is committed to the waves, and Pericles leaves their infant daughter Marina in the care of the rulers of Tarsus.
Years later Marina, grown and admired, survives a murderous plot and is carried off to a brothel in Mytilene, where her goodness defeats her captors. Pericles, believing her dead, has sunk into silence when his ship arrives at the same port. Gower returns throughout to bridge the years and places.
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. 47 characters speak; 29 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Pericles | | 128 |
| Gower | | 12 |
| Marina | | 65 |
| Simonides | | 49 |
| Helicanus | | 38 |
| Bawd | | 45 |
| Cleon | | 19 |
| Lysimachus | | 38 |
For directors
Pericles himself holds 25.8% of the words and Gower, the narrating chorus, 11.8% in only 12 speeches, which makes Gower a distinctive role for a strong speaker. With 47 speaking roles across 22 scenes and 29 of them under 1%, this is a doubling play by design. Uncut it runs about 2 hours 10 minutes, shorter than most late plays, and is a good fit for a company that wants a large ensemble and episodic staging.
Cutting notes
- Gower's choruses and the dumb shows are often trimmed, though they carry the narrative links between episodes.
- The brothel scenes in Mytilene are commonly softened or shortened, depending on the audience.
- The first two acts are often condensed because the text is thought to be less polished than the second half; many scholars attribute them to the collaborator George Wilkins.
For teachers
Typical themes include loss and recovery, providence and chance, the voyage as a structure, and the restoration of family. Students often note the narrator Gower, the episodic form, and the way the play differs from the tragedies. Common set pieces include the riddle scene in 1.1, the storm and burial at sea in 3.1, and the recognition scene between Pericles and Marina in 5.1.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of Pericles, Prince of Tyre?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 22 scenes and about 17,800 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 Pericles, Prince of Tyre 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.
