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Servant

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet · 10 speeches across 3 scenes

A comic, illiterate servingman tasked with delivering Capulet's guest list, enlisting Romeo's help.

Who they are

This servant appears briefly but memorably in Act 1. His inability to read the guest list for Capulet's feast creates a comedic delay and provides Romeo with his invitation to meet Juliet. His function is both practical plot advancement and low-comic relief through malapropisms.

Playing them

Play with broad naivety and physical clumsiness. Emphasize the malapropisms (e.g., 'tailer' for tailor) with genuine confusion, not mockery. Energy is perky and hurried—he's flustered by his own illiteracy but bounces back with enthusiasm. Deliver 'God gi' god-den' with a rustic rhythm, contrasting Verona's elegance.

Where they appear

Play Servant

Take the part and Yorick reads every other role aloud, following you line by line as you speak.

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Shakespeare the way it was meant to be had — out loud

These plays were written to be performed, not silently read. Yorick is a rehearsal app that lets you perform them: you take a part in any of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, and Yorick reads every other role aloud, listens while you speak your lines, keeps your place, and prompts you the moment you dry.

It is built for the person who has to be off book by tech week — school and college productions, community theatre, festivals, drama students and classical auditions — and for anyone who wants to hear a scene rather than skim it. Alongside the performance you get a plain-English translation of every speech, scene context, performance notes, and the ability to ask about any line and get an answer that already knows the play, the scene and who is speaking.

The text is the public-domain Cambridge/Globe edition. Translations and notes are AI-generated rehearsal aids for actors and students, not a scholarly apparatus. Yorick runs in a browser with nothing to install, and on iPhone and Android.