Learning Your Role
How to be a quick study
by Dr. Ken Plonkey
Stanislavsky on Memory: “A poor memory deprives an actor of
creativeness. If he is too
intent on remembering lines, he cannot be creative.”
“I think it is very important for an actor to learn his lines,”
Spencer Tracy.
There are many reasons why being a quick
study (able to learn your lines rapidly) is important for an actor.
First, an actor who can be relied upon to learn his lines quickly and
accurately is valued by all directors. Second, there are many
situations that an actor may work in that make learning lines quickly
important. Among these are Summer Stock Theatre where you may be working
on more that one play at a time; occasionally your theatre group will be
asked to present a play on short notice; in semi-professional dinner
theatre you do not get paid for rehearsing, only for the performances,
so rehearsals are kept to a minimum; and in motion pictures you have to
have the lines learned for each day’s shooting when you come to the set
in the morning.
But leaning your lines quickly is only part
of the job. You must also learn them accurately. No changes in the
wording ot the script is allowed unless the director approves the
changes. Therefore, you must learn your lines exactly as they are
written. There are several reasons for this. First, your
scene partners need their cues and they have studied them as they are
written so you must give them as written. Second, it gives you
confidence to know you have learned your lines accurately. Third,
paraphrasing your lines weakens your role, reduces the uniqueness of
your character, destroys the author’s timing and rhythm and makes you
look bad in the eyes of someone who knows the play.
You also learn your lines early
because you cannot act with the book in your hand. While you are
carrying the script you tend to react to the book instead of the
situation on state and your focus is more on the book than the other
characters. Then, of course, your character is not carrying a
script so it gives you bad habits of looking for help where there is
none when the script has been carried too long. So you must free
yourself from the book and shorten the period of uncertainty in
rehearsal. Once the lines are down you can concentrate on the
characterization.
Learn your lines early and accurately so you
do not struggle to remember them, look for them on the floor or in the
heavens above you. Of course a character in a play never struggles
to remember his lines, he does not strain physically or vocally,
suddenly lose volume, or drop out of character. There are no prompters
in today’s theatre during the performances. Therefore when I directed, I
never allowed an actor to call for “LINE” during rehearsal. If he
gets into that habit, he is quite likely to call for line in
performance. Alas, I have seen that happen, and worse.
Lines must be learned no later than half way
through a rehearsal period. Accepting a role in a play is giving your
word you will learn the role on time. Start at once when you
receive your script. My rule was that the actor could carry his script
until the second rehearsal after a scene was blocked.. During the
blocking, he wrote his movements in his script (in pencil should their
be changes) and then he could go home and learn these movements, come
back and carry his script once more through the scene and then from that
moment on, scripts were down.
“OK,” you say, “now how do I do this quick an
accurate learning of my lines?” Well, you actually begins slowly,
creating a solid base to build your lines upon. First read the
entire script, learning about the character and his place in the story
and his relationships with the other characters. Underline your
speeches. Mark your cues, the words and actions that prompt your
character to speak in a different color from that which use used to
underline your lines. Use a dictionary to look up any words you do
not understand or know how to pronounce. Mark the key words
of your speech in a third color. As you reread the script think
about what these markings mean. :”This is my cue, this is my line, and
these are the important words in my line.” Look at your cues and
at your speeches that follow your cues. If there are identical words or
phrases or thoughts from one to the next, make note of them. The
Cue,”Where are you going?” The Line, “I am going to the store.”
These are a simplistic example of what is called linkages. The word,
“going” is in both cue and speech and therefore the line is learned
without effort. Create linkages where none exist. Be
creative. Cue, “Where are you going?” and Line, “I
though you’d like the window open.” Now you have to make up a
link. How about “are you going” being an indication that you are
moving away from the other person, and in this case toward “the window”
to “open” it? Make up a link between the cue and your speech..
Understanding the structure of the play, the
scene and the speech can also help you remember the line. It often
happens that you will have similar lines at different places in the
play. To keep them sorted out and not say the Act I speech in Act III
and have to to the entire play again you have to understand the
difference in the situation and the line at each point in the play.
(BTW, I have seen an play in which an actor gave an Act I response in
Act III and the actors actually repeated a large section of the play
before they got back on track. The panic among the actors was
AWESOME! Knowing the structure of the play, the scene, and the
speech will keep you “in the moment” and allow you to respond honestly
to the stimuli of the scene.
Shakespeare in Hamlet’s advice to the
players reminds us to “Suit the action to the word, the word to the
action.” What he is saying is that we should do the correct
gesture or movement for each word or speech we give. Acting out
the play physically is called pantomimic dramatization. It
consists of acting out the line physically either literally or
symbolically. If you do this, it also will help you remember the
words. This technique is related to using language origin theories
to help you interpret and remember you lines.
The first theory is called the“Yo-heave-ho” theory. It supposes
that. language comes from trying to copy actions with vocal utterance.
What we say therefore indicated what we are doing or what we are
watching being done. Act out what you are saying.
Literally do what you are saying in synchronization with saying it.
Another language origin theory that
helps the actor remember his lines is the “Onomatopoeia” theory.
This theory supposes that language comes from trying to copy sounds with
vocal utterance. Make the words sound like what they mean.
Many words are ononmatopoetic to begin with. This means their meaning
and sound are the same thing. Words like “Bang, Crash, Ding-dong, and
tinkle, tinkle, tinkle” for examples. What you do is make up a sound for
each of the words in your speeches , except for articles of course.
When you say ‘It was a dark and stormy night,” you do so making dark
sound “dark” and stormy sound “stormy” and night sound like “night’.
By employing pantomimic dramatization and
language origin theory to your lines, you will make them more dynamic
and meaningful. They will communicate more clearly and affect more
strongly. When you have properly interpreted the lines via
language origin theory, you will also have created the motives for the
actions the character in committing. Pantomimic dramatization
becomes the key to motivated action.
Finally, most actors will agree that
recording their cues on a cassette and leaving blank spaces between the
cues for their lines is the very best way to practice, as you always
have someone cueing you.. And always think while saying your lines
and always say them out loud, on your feet and moving about.