Acting Made Easy: Bringing Text to Life (Monologues)

Hey there, Okay let's make acting easy!

This lesson is about memorizing your lines the right way. I really hope you took my advice from earlier and haven't learned them till now. Before you do, you need to do the first 4 lectures, apply those to your speech before you memorize it, so that the speech isn't learned in a robotic fashion that will be difficult to break out of.

You need to, first of all, think of the units of action, change the way you speak with each one,  so it turns into a score, think of your want, play that want as you learn the lines so that it drives the speech, and see the images that you are creating in your mind not the words, so your audience can see the images.

A warning: Don't record it and listen to it yourself over and over because that will make you copy the original recorded version and make you say it exactly the same way every time and kill the speech. I know some people use this method but I warn against it because I have seen actors do this and then it is very hard for me as a Director to change their rhythm, tempo or drive, it becomes robotic.

To be honest, there is no easy way to learn lines, you just have to have the paper in front of you, cover the lines up, learn the first line then the second and so on and go over and over it until it sticks in your mind but do so whilst thinking of the images, whilst thinking of those units of action and playing that want.

You will also find that you know the start of the speech better than the end naturally, so switch it up now and again and start from the second half because you have inevitably gone over the first half more times.

You may find now that the want doesn't quite suit the character, so try a different want, play with the speech as you learn it. Do a different want to give it more urgency or more power or more fear, etc. Check yourself on your images, make sure you are seeing them as you say the speech, check you are noting the different shades that the units of action gives you.

I always tell my students and actors that we are here to fail and what I mean by that is, that all rehearsals are about failure, about trial and error. Whether it be a brand new student to acting or Patrick Stewart, we are going to get it wrong, we have to give ourselves permission to fail so we can find the right way. Every time we get it wrong we are one step closer to getting it right.  You are in good company, even Meryl Streep doesn't get it right the first time she rehearses something and neither will you. So have patience, work hard and believe in the word you are saying.

Learning lines is like mixing the dough for bread, you have to give it time, you have work it hard, if you don't put in the hours, you won't feel the benefit. It's literally the only boring part of acting but you have to do it.

It's dull but you have to go further than you imagine and the more speeches you learn the faster you will become in learning them.

You will reach stage one after a few hours, where you think you know the speech but then go back to it an hour later and realize that it is only in there fleetingly.

After another hour or so you will reach stage 2 where you think you know the speech but you only know it when the actual speech is close by for comfort.

You will then need to do another hour to get to stage 3 where you push the script to the back of your head as I imagine it. Allowing the rest of your brain to think about the want and images as you do the speech. The speech starts to take on a life of its own, changing and evolving as you play with it. In stage 3 you will be totally sure you know the speech until you try to say it in front of other people, you will falter over certain words or phrases r, do not worry this always happens to all of us.

For the final stage of learning your speech.  I suggest you put something on in the background to disturb your peace, see if you can still do the speech while the radio is playing or kids are playing loudly or in you are in the park. If you still know the speech then, then you are ready. Try it out on a friend, it will make you nervous but that's part of the process and will make you more ready to do it in front of professionals.

Now the only thing left for you to do is to enjoy doing the speech, enjoy the words as they tumble from your mouth. You are not alone, you have chosen a speech by a writer and that writer has thought long and hard about every word on that page, they are there with you onstage as you recite your speech, they let you tell their story, you are not alone, trust in the writer that you are telling a fascinating story, okay you nearly ready to audition.

Go take yourself off for some hours and learn it well, And please don't forget the whole time you are learning your speech, learn the units of action, see the images and PLAY THE WANT.

Okay, that's it for now, I will be back next time to teach you how to enjoy your acting so the audience enjoys watching you.

Stay Safe, Take Care.