(CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE)

ZELIE:

You think you’ve won, don’t you?

That by chaining my hands, you’ve silenced my spirit.

But you can’t kill what lives in every Maji child,

What burns in the heart of orisha itself.

I know what you are saran… A coward. A man so afraid of what he doesn’t
understand that he drowns it in blood.

You killed my mother!you murdered not just her body, but her legacy, her
magic, her hope…

But look at me. Do I look defeated to you?

Do I look like I’ll break under your boot?

You’ve tried to crush us, but we’re still here… I’m still here

And as long as one Maji breathes, as long as one diviner dreams, you will
never win.

You fear us because you know the truth.

Magic is not the disease. You are.

And one day- one day soon- your throne will fall.

When it does, it won’t be your name they chant. It will be mine

2. The God’s are not to blame

ODEWALE:

Before Ogun the God of iron, I stand on oath.

Witness now all you present that before the feast of Ogun, which starts at
sunrise, I, Odewale, the son of Ogundele, shall search and fully lay open
before your very eyes the murderer of King Adetusa.

And having seized that murderer, I swear by this sacred arm of Ogun, that I
shall straight away bring him to the agony of slow death. First he shall be
exposed to the eyes of the world and put to shame- the beginning of living
death. Next, he shall be put into lasting darkness, his eyes tortured in their
living sockets until their blood and rheum swell forth to fill the hollow of
crushed eyeballs. And then, the final agony: we shall cut him from his roots.
Expelled from the land of his birth, he shall roam in darkness in the land of
nowhere, and there die unmourned by men who know him and buried by
vultures who know him not. May the gods of our fathers stand by me…..

3. Romeo and Juliet

ROMEO:

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou her maid art far more fair than she.

Be not her maid, since she is envious.

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.

It is my lady; O, it is my love!

O that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?

Her eye discourses; I will answer it.

I am too bold; ’tis not to me she speaks.

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!

O that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!

4. (from Macbeth, spoken by Macbeth)

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses,

Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There’s no such thing:

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one halfworld

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain’d sleep; witchcraft celebrates

Pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder,

Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.

With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

[a bell rings]

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

5. LADY MACBETH:
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!–One: two: why,

Then, ’tis time to do’t.–Hell is murky!–Fie, my

Lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we

Fear who knows it, when none can call our power to

Account?–Yet who would have thought the old man

To have had so much blood in him.

The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?

–What, will these hands ne’er be clean?–No more o’

That, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with

This starting.

Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the

Perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little

Hand. Oh, oh, oh!

Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so

Pale.–I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he

Cannot come out on’s grave.

To bed, to bed! There’s knocking at the gate:

Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s

Done cannot be undone.–To bed, to bed, to bed!

6.Monolgue spoken by Viola (TWELFTH NIGHT)

I left no ring with her: what means this lady?

Fortune forbid my outside have not charm’d her!

She made good view of me; indeed, so much,

That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,

For she did speak in starts distractedly.

She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion

Invites me in this churlish messenger.

None of my lord’s ring! Why, he sent her none.

I am the man: if it be so, as ’tis,

Poor lady, she were better love a dream.

Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,

Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.

How easy is it for the proper-false

In women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!

Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!

For such as we are made of, such we be.

How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly;

And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;

And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.

What will become of this? As I am man,

My state is desperate for my master’s love;

As I am woman,.now alas the day!.

What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!

O time! Thou must untangle this, not I;

It is too hard a knot for me to untie!

7.ORSINO (TWEFTH NIGHT)

If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.

That strain again! It had a dying fall:

O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound,

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:

‘Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

O spirit of love! How quick and fresh art thou,

That, notwithstanding thy capacity

Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,

Of what validity and pitch soe’er,

But falls into abatement and low price,

Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy

That it alone is high fantastical.

8. Inspired by Anowa – Anowa’s Soliloquy

Character: Anowa

Monologue:

“They said I was foolish, headstrong. That I’d regret marrying Kofi, and
maybe they were right. But why should it matter to them? It was my choice!
They don’t know what it’s like to feel the kind of love that burns so fiercely it
blinds you to everything else. When I looked at Kofi, I didn’t see a poor man
or a farmer—I saw a partner, someone who made me feel alive.

And now? Now, I see the cracks, the faults, the things they warned me about.
Kofi’s ambition—it’s like a hungry animal, always wanting more, never
satisfied. He wants wealth, power, success. And me? I just wanted a life. A
simple life where we could laugh and love and work side by side. But here I
am, sitting in the shadow of his dreams, wondering if there’s still a place for
me in them.

I hear the whispers of the village women when I pass by. They pity me, or
maybe they’re laughing at me. I can’t tell anymore. But what they don’t
understand is that I’d rather be here, struggling with my choices, than living
a life chosen for me. I’d rather make mistakes that are my own than be a
prisoner to someone else’s expectations.

Maybe I am a fool. But if being a fool means living true to yourself, then I will
wear that title proudly. Because at least I can say I lived, truly lived, even if it
wasn’t the life they wanted for me.”

9. Inspired by Death and the King’s Horseman – Elesin’s Preparation

Character: Elesin

Monologue:

“Tonight, my name will be spoken in the songs of my people. Elesin, the one
who walks boldly to the threshold of life and death, the one who fulfills his
duty without hesitation. I was born for this moment, shaped by it, carried
toward it by the hands of my ancestors. To join my king in the afterlife is not
a burden—it is an honor.

And yet… as I sit here, the drums echoing in my chest, I feel a shadow of
doubt creeping in. Not doubt in my purpose, no. Doubt in myself. Am I truly
ready? Have I lived enough, loved enough, danced enough to let it all go?
The women sing of my strength, my courage, but inside, there’s a whisper—a
voice asking, ‘What if this is the end, and there is no glory, no reunion, only
silence?’
But no. I cannot allow fear to taint this night. I am Elesin! I walk the path that
has been laid for me, not because I am forced to, but because it is who I am.
My people will watch me, and they will remember that I faced death not with
trembling hands, but with a steady heart.

Let the world see that I am not afraid. Let them know that even in the face of
the unknown, Elesin stands tall. This is my destiny, and I embrace it with
every fiber of my being.”

10. Inspired by The Lion and the Jewel – Lakunle’s Lecture

Character: Lakunle

Monologue:

“Sidi, can’t you see the world is moving forward? And here you are, holding
on to bride prices and village gossip as if they are treasures. But what have
they done for us? They keep us trapped, stuck in a time when the rest of the
world is leaping ahead. Skyscrapers in Lagos! Telephones ringing from one
side of the world to the other! And yet, here in our little village, we are still
arguing over how many yams a woman is worth.

I don’t want to live in a world where men and women are weighed like cattle
at the market. I want something more, something new! Education, progress,
ideas that can break us free from the chains of tradition. Don’t get me wrong,
Sidi—I love this village, its colors, its rhythms. But love doesn’t mean staying
blind to its flaws.

You call me a fool, a dreamer, and maybe I am. But dreams are what build
bridges, what carry us into the future. I want you to see that, to join me in
building something greater. But if you won’t, if you choose to stay in this
world of bartered marriages and whispered gossip, then I’ll go forward alone.
Even if it means leaving behind the one thing I truly want—you.”