Romeo and Juliet

[Enter Sampson and Gregory, two high-ranking servants of the Capulet household, carrying swords and shields. Gregory is making fun of Sampson, who sees himself as a fearsome fighter]

Sampson

Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals.

Gregory

No, for then we should be colliers.
[Before the real action of the play begins, a single actor (referred to as a chorus) comes to the front of the stage to deliver this introductory prologue to the play]

Chorus

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth, with their death, bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents' rage —  
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove —
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

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