Don’t you want to learn your lines with perfect accuracy, so that on stage you can concentrate on the acting and not on remembering the next word? Don’t you want to learn your lines earlier in the rehearsal process, so you can try different acting choices? Actors and directors hate to have the script in hand; you’re more dynamic and free without it. Memorizing Shakespeare is not like remembering your friend’s birthday or how to read French. Here are the top tips for memorizing your lines in a Shakespearean play.

8. The Obvious: Be Consistent

To improve a skill, practice a little bit every day. It’s a lot better than cramming two or three times. And the saying goes “Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

Learning your part is a skill. Cramming may work for you for facts, but not for a skill. It requires practice. But that doesn’t mean boring drills… a little bit of line work every day will build up. However, just because you’re not studying a lot every day doesn’t mean you should be sloppy about it. Say your lines clearly, and correct your mistakes.

Practice every day.

7. Sounds Prompt Sounds

If you need to verbally respond, you’ll recall a list that is read aloud better than a written list. That’s called the Modality Effect.

What does this mean for memorizing lines? Reading from the page is not as good as hearing the lines. Most memory systems encourage you to visualize, but if your recall on stage requires you to hear your cue and respond verbally, thinking in pictures will actually slow down your response time and confuse your memory. Shakespeare is very difficult for many actors because of the language, so why would visualizing the idea help with remembering the exact words, pronounced in an exact way? It can’t.

Read your lines out loud. Have a friend read your lines to you. More Info…

6. Serial Position Effects

The first items on a list are recalled better (Primacy Effect), and the most recent items heard are better remembered (Recency Effect).

How is this relevant to memorizing a script? Use the Recency Effect to your advantage to refresh your memory right before a rehearsal of that scene. And be aware that you probably have to do more work on remembering the middle of the play if you start memorizing from the beginning.

Start each study session at a different scene, so that the “middle” keeps moving. More Info…

5. Sleep

Encoding immediately before sleep improves recall. You probably won’t remember dreaming about the thing you were studying, but it does get encoded better in your brain.

Does this work for learning dialogue? Of course.

Make running your lines the last thing you do before bed. More Info…

4. Testing Effect

Frequent testing of memorized material increases retention. You learn more from your mistakes, but you’ll never make a mistake if you never try to test yourself.

For memorizing your part, you’re not only tested during performance, but every rehearsal that you’re off-book. In order to get off-book, try testing yourself more between rehearsals. Even if you’re not perfect, try to be off book in rehearsal as soon as possible, and when you screw up a line, note it in your script. Don’t feel bad about errors, even in front of other actors, just remember that you’re learning your lines better than they are.

Make an effort to run lines without your script as soon as you can.

3. Context

Being in a similar situation or environment during recall as during encoding will improve performance. So doing a math test in a gym will give you a lower score than if you did it in the classroom.

What’s the implication for memorizing Shakespeare? Most actors will attest to the fact that they learn their lines during rehearsals much more easily than at home. And rehearsing on the stage is the best time of all.

Stand up, do your blocking, run lines with your scene partners instead of your sister. Make every study session as much like a performance as you can. [Read More...]

2. The Memory Secret That Combines It All

Many actors have discovered a secret way to combine these memory tips into a new technique. Smart actors record their lines, and the cue lines that other actors will be saying onto a voice-recorder. Then they can listen to their lines in context, learn them without book, and be able to react without thinking of how the words look in the script. They recall and react vocally to what they hear, just like they’ll need to in performance.

Read your lines into a tape-recorder, or digital voice recorder, and try to get your scene partners to do the same.

1. The Ultimate Tip for Memorizing Lines

What’s even better? Even easier? Even faster? ScenePartner. One click and you’re off-book.