Cymbeline

A young woman dressed as a man, young toddlers kidnapped, a wicked queen and her wicked son, a cave in Wales—it's almost a fairy tale. “O, men's vows are women's traitors."

Here is a detailed synopsis on Wikipedia.

For those of you who provide parts a scene at a time, this Character Chart shows all the characters' lines in each scene: Cymbeline

If your group reads the plays straight through in one sitting and you want to divide up the parts, we have a number of “cast” lists already divided up for you. These are text files that you can edit to suit your group. We always recommend in a straight-through read that each participant take a moment beforehand to mark their parts—then everything proceeds so smoothly.

• Cast for 7, plus a reader for Stage Directions
• Cast for 8, plus a reader for Stage Directions
• Cast for 9, plus a reader for Stage Directions
• Cast for 10, plus a reader for Stage Directions

This link is to Marjorie Garber's free Harvard lecture on Cymbeline.

This link is to some great related materials on the Internet Shakespeare Editions site from the University of Victoria: early modern culture, literary sources and comparisons, what Elizabethans thought of this genre, and fascinating information about Britons and Romans.

Back to the Readers' Editions and readers' support page.

This is an audio recording of the play by professional actors with sound effects: