Public-domain plays, every role voiced

Shakespeare Audiobooks with a Full Cast, for Class or for Fun

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Turn the public-domain text of Hamlet, Macbeth or any other play into a Shakespeare audiobook where every role has its own voice, stage directions are read or left out, and each scene is a chapter.

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — The Cheshire Cat
NarratorNaomiAliceAbbyCheshire CatSnik How it works
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland cover

Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice asks the grinning Cheshire Cat for directions — and gets none.

NarratorNaomiStoryteller

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought; still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect.

AliceAbbyCurious

Cheshire Puss, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

Cheshire CatSnikSly

That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

AliceAbbyCurious

I don't much care where—

Cheshire CatSnikSly

Then it doesn't matter which way you go.

AliceAbbyCurious

—so long as I get somewhere.

Cheshire CatSnikSly

Oh, you're sure to do that, if you only walk long enough.

~1 min · 3 voices · ready to play7
Free preview, no signup to listen. Your own chapters & export need a free account.I'm ready →
AI voices to cast
137
70 standard · 67 premium
file types in
5
EPUB · PDF · DOCX · TXT · MD
ways out
3
M4B with chapters · MP3 · ZIP
voice models
4
Gemini · ElevenLabs

Step-by-step guide

How to make a Shakespeare audiobook with a full cast

From a public-domain text to one chapter per scene.

  1. Get a clean text

    Download the play as an EPUB or plain text from Project Gutenberg, or use any edition you're free to voice. Delete the Gutenberg licence pages before you generate.

  2. Make each scene a chapter

    In plain text, “ACT I” and “SCENE II” aren't read as chapter breaks, so split the import at each scene and rename it, or mark scenes as Heading 1 in Word.

  3. Check every speaker

    Detection is AI-based. Confirm each speech went to the right role, and delete any speech prefix left behind as a narrator line.

  4. Direct and export

    Keep or cut the stage directions, direct the big speeches in brackets, then export an M4B with a marker per scene or one MP3 per scene.

Shakespeare Audiobook

Features & capabilities

What you get, from manuscript to finished audiobook.

  • Every role, its own voice

    Hamlet, Horatio, the Ghost and the gravediggers each speak in a voice of their own, so a crowded scene stays easy to follow.

  • Made for public-domain texts

    Gutenberg EPUBs and plain-text files upload as they are: no DRM, no conversion, nothing to retype.

  • Stage directions, your call

    Keep entrances and exits as short narrator lines, or delete them so the play runs as pure dialogue.

  • Verse that breathes

    Direct a soliloquy in brackets, such as [slow, weighing every word], and regenerate a line until the rhythm lands.

  • A chapter per scene

    Split the play into scenes so a class can jump straight to Act 3, Scene 1 in any audiobook app.

  • One cast across plays

    Start Henry IV, Part 2 with the cast you saved for Part 1, so the king and Falstaff keep their voices.

Use cases

What can you make with Shakespeare Audiobook?

Where authors and storytellers put it to work.

  • English classes

    One act per lesson: students follow the printed text while each role speaks in a voice of its own.

  • Exam revision

    Replay a set play scene by scene, and the speeches you need to know, as often as you like.

  • Drama clubs

    Hear the rhythm of a scene before rehearsal, with the stage directions read aloud or left out.

  • Readers and book clubs

    The comedies and histories you never got to, read by a cast instead of a single voice.

Example voices for a Shakespeare company

Kings, queens, lovers, clowns and a ghost or two. Demo performances; in the studio you cast from standard and premium voice lists.

More examples
On this page
  1. 1Why a Shakespeare audiobook suits a full cast
  2. 2Getting a clean public-domain text
  3. 3Speech prefixes become voices
  4. 4Stage directions: narrator or silent
  5. 5Verse and prose: pacing the lines
  6. 6Scenes and acts as chapters
  7. 7Classroom use: one act per lesson

In depth

Why a Shakespeare audiobook suits a full cast

A play is almost nothing but dialogue. There is no narrator telling you who speaks; every speech is labelled with its character, and the text was written to be shared out among a company of actors. That makes a Shakespeare audiobook the cleanest full-cast job there is: one voice per role, a few stage directions, and the verse.

FullCastBook gives every role its own voice and keeps an optional narrator for the stage directions. The plays themselves are in the public domain, so the text costs nothing. The work is in the casting, the chapters and a careful check of who says what, and this guide covers each of them for teachers, students and anyone who wants a Hamlet audiobook, or a Macbeth, with more than one voice.

Getting a clean public-domain text

Shakespeare died in 1616, so the plays are in the public domain. A particular modern edition can still carry rights of its own, though: its introduction, notes and editorial choices are new work. The Folger Shakespeare texts, for example, are free to download for non-commercial use only. Project Gutenberg's texts are free to use in the United States; if you plan to sell an edition elsewhere, check the copyright status where you live.

Download the play as an EPUB or a plain-text file. Then cut the Gutenberg header, licence and contents pages, either in the file or in the import review, so the narrator doesn't read them. For a Shakespeare audiobook made for a class, that is usually all the preparation you need. For a novel-length classic instead, see the public domain audiobook maker.

Speech prefixes become voices

Gutenberg's Hamlet opens with each speech prefix in capitals on its own line and the speech directly below. Act 1, Scene 1 begins: “BARNARDO. Who's there? FRANCISCO. Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.” Before it, a stage direction: “Enter Francisco and Barnardo, two sentinels.” Name on its own line, speech underneath: that is the layout to keep.

Speaker detection is AI-based and was built for novels, so check the script view before you generate. Look for three things: a speech given to the wrong role, a speech prefix such as “BARNARDO.” left over as a narrator line (delete it, or the narrator will announce every speaker), and roles with several names, like a king listed both by name and as “KING”. Fix any line's speaker in a click. Shakespeare full cast audiobook projects get long casts, so let the one-scene messengers and servants share a few voices. Writing a play of your own? An AI table read uses the same name-above-speech layout.

Stage directions: narrator or silent

Every stage direction arrives as a narrator line, and there are two good ways to handle them. Radio-play style keeps the entrances, exits and the odd “Thunder and lightning” as short narrator lines, which helps a listener who can't see who has walked on. Pure-dialogue style deletes them, so the scene plays straight through like a recording of a performance. Either way, every spoken word of the Shakespeare audiobook stays in.

Gutenberg marks many exits in square brackets with underscores for italics, like “[_Exit._]”. Decide what to do with those before you generate: keep them as narrator lines or delete them. And keep the brackets for your own delivery notes, such as [whispered, urgent] on a line that needs it.

Verse and prose: pacing the lines

Most of the big speeches are in verse, and verse runs past the end of the line more often than it stops there. Voices read to the punctuation, which is usually what you want. Where a speech needs space, say so in the direction. Macbeth's “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day” (Act 5, Scene 5) wants something like [slow, hollow, exhausted], not a brisk read.

Prose scenes, like the gravediggers in Hamlet (Act 5, Scene 1), want the opposite: [brisk, conversational], with quicker exchanges. Listen to one speech, regenerate it with a different direction if it lands wrong, then move on; regenerating uses credits again, so settle the style on the big moments rather than every line.

Scenes and acts as chapters

In a plain-text or PDF file, chapters are found from headings like “Chapter 3” or “Part 2”, not from “ACT I” or “SCENE II”, so a play arrives as one long chapter or in parts of similar length. Split it at each scene in the import review and rename the parts “Act 1, Scene 2” and so on. In Word, mark each scene title as Heading 1 and every heading becomes a chapter. In an EPUB, chapters come from the contents; check that they line up with the scenes.

Once each scene is a chapter, the Shakespeare audiobook exports the way listeners expect a full-cast play audiobook to work: an M4B with a marker at every scene, one MP3 for the whole play, or a ZIP with one file per scene.

Classroom use: one act per lesson

Shakespeare audio for students works best alongside the text. Play one act per lesson while the class follows the printed play, pause at a speech to talk about it, and send the scene files home for revision. Distinct voices help in exactly the places students get lost: crowded court scenes, mistaken identities, and quick exchanges with no stage directions.

Use the original text unless you have permission for something else: modern-English versions and side-by-side editions are new works with their own copyright. Free sign-up credits are enough to hear a sample scene, and the plans cover whole plays. For more on what a cast does for a book, listen to the examples on the home page.

FAQ

Shakespeare Audiobook: FAQ

Something not covered here? Email us at support@fullcastbook.com

Can I make a Shakespeare audiobook for free?

You can start free: sign-up credits cover a sample scene or a short chapter, no card needed, and the text is free from Project Gutenberg. A whole play needs a paid plan; the audiobook cost calculator estimates it.

Is Shakespeare's text in the public domain?

The plays themselves are; Shakespeare died in 1616. A modern edition's notes, introduction and editorial choices can still be under copyright, and some free texts, such as the Folger's, are licensed for non-commercial use only.

Can every character have a different voice?

Yes. Every speaking role is detected and cast. Detection is AI-based, so check the speakers before you generate, and let small roles share voices when the cast is large.

What happens to the stage directions?

They come through as narrator lines. Keep the ones that help a listener, like entrances and exits, and delete the rest so the scene plays as dialogue.

Can I use modern-English versions?

Only with permission. Modern translations and side-by-side editions are new works with their own copyright; the original text is free to use.

How long is a Shakespeare audiobook?

Hamlet, the longest play, runs to roughly 30,000 words, which is about three and a quarter hours at 155 words a minute; most plays are shorter. The audiobook length calculator works it out for any text.

More in this collection

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