use XML::LibXML;
  my $parser = XML::LibXML->new();
  my $xml    = $parser->parse_file( '/path/to/file' );
  ## find all <speech>..
  foreach my $speech ( $xml->findnodes( '/script/speech' ) {
     ....
  }

  ## find all speech by Romeo (assuming:
  ##  <speech><character>Romeo</character><text>....</text></speech>
  ## )
  foreach my $romeo_speech ( $xml->findnodes( '/script/speech/[character = "Romeo"]' ) ) {
      ....
  }

  ## etc...