How I Memorize Lines for a Play Lightning Fast.
I live and breathe theatre, and now, I’ll be studying it next year. Before that however, I’ve been in many plays that have shped me not the actor I am now. Being a theatre kid is a socially nourishing experience, with the bets of theatre friends, or any friends, you can hope to have!
Plays and productions are a massive collaborative effort, and as actors, we’ve gotta do our part.
There are responsibilities and hurdles that while easy, are necessary. Hurdles such as remembering your lines!
Whether you have a minor to smaller role with perhaps one chunky monologue or you’ve snagged a lead role and are terrified of all the talking you need to remember, fear not!
For ages, I’ve used a special technique which, while not of my own original design, has helped massively in absorbing all of my lines faster than many others in the cast of whatever show I’m a part of. Whether or not it’s a trick for you is up to your own discovery, and I’m sure there are many other tricks out there for everyone.
To begin with, I should say that the difference between reading lines as raw text on a script is vastly different from when you are on stage and rehearsing and blocking on an actual stage. Developing a clear understanding of the story you’re in, the purpose of the scene you’re in, and the context of what you’re saying, strips away the technical boringness of just reciting words from a page, and turns it into something that’s far easier to digest and easier to perform!
Anyway, here’s a few lines from Sir Andrew Aguecheek in my local theatre’s upcoming show of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
Twere as good a deed as to drink when a
man’s a-hungry, to challenge him the field and
then to break promise with him and make a fool of
him.
Obviously I’ve tackled far bigger and vaster monologues than this, but for simplicity’s sake here’s something small to do quickly, so we get the idea.
Rehearsal’s and read-through’s will help you understand the context and feel of the lines, but for now, focus on reading over the lines out loud from start to finish at least five times. In Shakespeare’s case, a rhythm may occur in either verse or prose, especially iambic pentameter. Depending on which of his work you’re performing.
Then, either digitally or with classic pen and paper, re write the text but with the first initials of each word only.
So, it would then be written like this:
T a g a d a t d w a
m a h, t c h t f a
t t b p w h a m a f o
h.
Including punctuation and capitalising Proper Nouns can help, but as long as it helps you, adapt your own rules for this.
Now, hold the two pieces of text, original and the new one with initials, and read the new one side-by-side with the original for reference. Again, out loud for a handful of time.
Next, try reading the initials alone. If you hit a bump, refer to the original to help you along. Repeat this until you can read the initials with fair efficiency. Out loud/4-5 times.
Finally, try reciting the text from memory and see how much you can remember and say by heart.
You may surprise yourself with the results here!
I don’t remember the science behind it myself, but this kind of repetition while adapting to change, tricks your brain into absorbing the text like a sponge.
It may not work for some, and some tricks will help other thespians better, but this has helped me and my peers immensely in learning even the biggest of monologues and spurs of text, and if you happen to be involved in a play, the Bard’s or otherwise, I hope it will help you too!
Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day!
- Daniel
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