Memorization Advice

Congrats!

Advice:
Don't panic. The more nervous you get about it, the more likely you'll be to mess up (however, don't be overly confident either... that will also make you mess-up). If you drop a line, it happens. The show will go on. Just concentrate on what's going on, the scene, you're character, and don't worry too much about messing up!

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thanks guys...that really helps...
oh! and "loud" welcome to the board..try not to get sucked in too far...

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Repetition is your best friend in the whole world! The better your lines are memorized, the less nervous you will end up being when showtime comes. (What play is it, out of curiosity? Congrats no matter what, though!)

To my way of thinking, if the words are memorized in monotone, it would be pretty difficult during rehearsals to break from that beat and not sound like you're reading out of a science book, no?

That's just my opinion... different methods work for different people. I think the sense memory advise is the best so far. Not only are you finding ways to learn the material, you're also working on character development in the process. It's like a win/win situation.

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DGrant - my wife does something similiar - she tapes her cues and leaves space to deliver her lines. It works for her.

I wouldn't break the lines up. Begin at the beginning and read the entire scene all the way through. Then start again at the beginning. (When you memorize a song off the radio, you don't listen to it in bits, you hear it all the way through several times). What happens when you memorize in chunks is that when you get nervous, you'll remember your lines up to the drop off point and possibly freeze.

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I know this sounds crazy, but writing out the first letters of each word helps a lot. It works best once you think you know the words; you quiz yourself writing out the letters. It's extremely helpful with long monologues.

=

Iktsc, bwotfloewhal. Iwboytyktw; yqywotl. Iehwlm.

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You gotta be careful though. Some material (Mamet, Stoppard, LaBute) does not leave much room for improvisation. Most writers don't like cutting lines or reciting the "relative idea" of the lines. I think respecting the artist and memorizing word for word is key. Who knows, that word or phrase you possibly may be skipping may be the key to your character.

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MarkCohen, that advice may work for tv or film, but not for the stage.

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Not true at all, Mark. In fact, it's their job to get every word right.

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Oh yeah, for sure in a professional production they are going to have all the words right. But the person asking was talking about her school play...thats what I was giving her advice for.

i swear by huge amounts of pot during the pre-production and the early rehearsal process augmented by alcohol in the last weeks and then adding the opiate (if it says hydro-codone or oxy-codone on the bottle you're on the right track) of your choice during performances.

but seriously, i always used a combination of all those methods and never reallly knew my lines until i had my blocking and could rehearse it over and over again with the movement and at least some idea of what we were trying to accomplish in the scene. now, i know, "but i don't have a whole set at home!" just minimize your movements so that you're at least approximating where you're going and what you're doing so that rather than trying to think about what you're doing and why and what you're saying and where you're supposed to be onstage, you can let your body kinda feel where it's going and allow the things you're doing to occur more naturally. that way the lines become part of the whole rather than trying to just memorize words. 'course, i still made a tape all my lines and listened to it all the damn time and changed it around a lot so that it didn't always have the same rhythm.

but the drugs are always an option.

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