Drama Term Tuesday #41

Memorising

The act of committing a text to memory so that an actor can deliver the story fully and accurately every performance. Almost always actors need to memorise their lines and moves in a play. They do so in a range of ways.

  • learning the ideas and their interconnectedness, the story of the lines;

  • saying the lines aloud rather than in the head associating the line with the specific movements of the action;

  • associating and remembering the feelings that the words and images create, not just the words; actioning the words

  • seeing all of the lines in a scene as one whole with its beginning section, middle section, and concluding section and its dramatic progression;

  • figuring out what the character is actually saying when he/she says what he/she says;

  • using mnemonic devices to help remember lists, such as anagrams, rhymes, silly sentences etc;

  • making a tape of the lines that can be listened to repeatedly.

Excerpt from Drama Key Terms and Concepts. Continue the conversation on facebook and twitter.