A collection of fifty audition speeches for women selected from the finest plays of the last twenty years. The selections come from mainstream contemporary classics and important emerging work. Many of the playwrights represented here have received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Included are David Mamet's Oleanna, Willy Russell's Educating Rita, Jim Cartwright's Road, Caryl Churchill's Serious Money, Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, Anthony Minghella's Truly, Madly, Deeply, and Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good, as well as work by Patrick Marber, Terry Johnson, Sue Townsend, Stephen Poliakoff, Dario Fo and Franca Rame, Nick Dear, Edward Bond, Alan Ayckbourn, and others. The speeches cover a wide range of mood and character, from comedy to tragedy, from youth to old age, offering the actor a rich choice of new material. Each piece is accompanied by a synopsis setting the extract firmly in its context. The volume is introduced by the editor with a note of advice drawn from interviews with experienced directors.