Try Wonders for free
Plays are cited by their own internal divisions. A reference to act 3, scene 1 lets a reader with any edition find the passage, where a page number would help only the reader who owns your copy. The edition still matters, because line numbering and even the wording differ between editions of early plays.
What to Collect
- Playwright and title
- Editor(s) of your edition, and translator if any
- Publisher and year of your edition
- For an anthology: its title, editors and the play's page range
- Year of first performance or publication, for older plays
- Act, scene and line numbers (or page numbers) for each passage
The worked example is Hamlet in the Folger Shakespeare Library edition, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine (Simon and Schuster, 2012). The passage is the opening of the "To be or not to be" speech, act 3, scene 1, which begins at line 64 in the Folger numbering. The Folger publishes the same text and line numbers free at folger.edu, so you can check every line reference in this guide.
Quick Reference by Major Style
MLA (9th Edition)
Playwright Last, First. Title of Play. Edited by First Last, Publisher, Year.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon and Schuster, 2012.
In-text: (Shakespeare 3.1.64-68), or (Hamlet 3.1.64-68) when you are writing about more than one of his plays.
Play in an anthology:
Playwright Last, First. Title of Play. Title of Anthology, edited by First Last, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx.
Play titles are italicized even inside an anthology, because a play is a work that can stand alone.
APA (7th Edition)
APA treats an edited edition of an old play as a republished book: the editors follow the title in parentheses, and the original date closes the reference.
Shakespeare, W. (2012). Hamlet (B. A. Mowat & P. Werstine, Eds.). Simon & Schuster. (Original work published 1603)
In-text: (Shakespeare, 1603/2012, 3.1.64–68)
APA cites canonically numbered parts (acts, scenes, lines) in place of page numbers. The Folger Shakespeare Library dates the first printing of Hamlet to the quarto of 1603; use the date your own edition gives.
Chicago (18th Edition)
Footnote:
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine (Simon and Schuster, 2012), 3.1.64–68.
Shortened note:
- Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3.1.70.
Bibliography:
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Chicago says that classic English plays can be cited by act, scene and line, and that the edition should be specified because numbering varies. Once the edition is established, later references can go in the text in parentheses: (3.1.70).
Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Playwright Surname, Initial. (Year of edition) Title of play. Edited by Initial. Surname. Place of publication: Publisher.
Shakespeare, W. (2012) Hamlet. Edited by B.A. Mowat and P. Werstine. New York: Simon and Schuster.
In-text: (Shakespeare, 2012, 3.1.64–68)
Harvard guides differ on how they punctuate act, scene and line. Follow the form in your own institution's guide.
IEEE
The IEEE Reference Guide has no format for plays. Use the book format, and put the act, scene and line in the in-text citation:
[1] W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, B. A. Mowat and P. Werstine, Eds. New York, NY, USA: Simon and Schuster, 2012.
In-text: [1, 3.1.64–68]
Titles in Place of the Author (MLA)
When you write about several plays by one playwright, the author's name no longer tells the reader which play you mean, so MLA puts the title in the parenthetical citation: (Hamlet 3.1.64-68). The MLA Handbook also publishes a list of standard abbreviations for Shakespeare's titles. If you use them, take them from the handbook, use them only inside parentheses, and write the full title in your sentences.
Quoting From a Play
A single speech of up to three lines of verse. Run it into your sentence with slashes at the line breaks:
Hamlet frames the question as a choice between endurance and resistance: "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (3.1.65-66).
Prose dialogue is quoted like any prose, with the 40-word (APA) or four-line (MLA) threshold for a block quotation.
An exchange between characters (MLA). Set it as a block, indented half an inch. Each speech starts with the character's name in capital letters and a period. If a speech runs over a line, indent the continuation a little further. Here are the opening lines of the play:
BARNARDO. Who's there? FRANCISCO. Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself. BARNARDO. Long live the King! (1.1.1-3)
Stage directions are quoted as they appear in your edition, usually in italics, and cited by the nearest line number.
Modern Plays
Twentieth-century and contemporary plays are mostly in prose with no line numbers. Cite pages.
MLA: Playwright Last, First. Title of Play. Publisher, Year. In-text: (Playwright 43)
APA: Playwright, A. A. (Year). Title of play. Publisher. In-text: (Playwright, Year, p. 43)
If your readers may use a different edition, MLA lets you add the act and scene after the page, separated by a semicolon, as in the Style Center's example (54; 1.4).
Performances, Films and Recordings
A production is a different work from the script: the director and actors make choices that are not in the text. If your argument is about what happened on stage, cite the performance.
MLA: Title of Play. By Playwright Name, directed by Director Name, Day Mon. Year, Theatre, City.
APA: Director, D. D. (Director). (Year, Month Day). Title of play [Theatrical performance]. Theatre Company, City.
A live performance leaves no record your reader can consult, so include the date you attended. A filmed production is cited as a film or video. See how to reference a movie.
Online Texts
Free online Shakespeare texts vary in quality. The Folger Shakespeare (folger.edu) publishes its edited texts online with line numbers. Other free sites host older public-domain texts whose numbering differs. Cite the site you used, with its URL, so that your line numbers can be checked.
Common Mistakes
- Citing page numbers for a verse play with line numbers
- Mixing line numbers from one edition with a reference to another
- Putting a play title in quotation marks instead of italics
- Using an abbreviated title in your sentences instead of only in parentheses
- Writing "Act 3, Scene 1, Line 64" in a parenthetical citation where the style expects 3.1.64
- Leaving the editor out of the reference for an edited edition
- Citing the script for something that occurred only in a particular production
Sources for These Formats
- MLA Handbook, 9th ed., on citing and quoting drama; MLA Style Center, "If I am citing a commonly studied play that does not use line numbers, should I cite act and scene only?" (style.mla.org/edition-without-line-numbers)
- APA Style, "Book/Ebook References" and guidance on republished and classical works (apastyle.apa.org)
- The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., sections 14.153 and 14.154 on classic English poems and plays (chicagomanualofstyle.org)
- Folger Shakespeare Library, Hamlet (folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet)
- Pears and Shields, Cite Them Right, Harvard section on plays
- IEEE Reference Guide, version 3.28.2025 (no drama format)
Full style rules: MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE.
