Tips for Learning Lines

Whether you want to be an actor, lecturer or speech-giver, one thing you need to be able to do is learn your lines. Here are twelve practical techniques for learning them and don’t forget practice makes perfect.

1. Read the lines aloud. By speaking the lines you will hear them and they are more likely to stick.

2. Ask a friend to help you. Friends can correct you on any mistakes you make, give you the cue lines and go back over any weak areas.

3. Practise, practise, practise. This is the only way to make the lines stick. There is no such thing as a “photographic” memory. Everybody has to do this, even Kenneth Branagh.

4. Little and often. Go over them first thing in the morning, a few times during the day and last thing at night.

5. There are several apps which can help with learning lines including Line Learner where you record all the lines including those of other characters and then listen to them leaving silent pauses to speak your own lines. Another is Rehearsal Pro where you can upload a script and watch it scrolling by as you record your lines to listen to.

6. Even if you don’t use an app you can make a recording of the scene with a tape-recorder or smartphone. Listen to it while you are shaving/washing up/driving (but keep your eyes on the road). It’s a good idea to leave gaps in the recording to speak your own lines.

7. Move around while you are saying your lines. This has been scientifically proven to aid memory. The best thing to do is to act and feel the emotions of the character so that you are learning the meaning of the speech as much as the words. Or just for a change you can even do something entirely unrelated like juggling or sweeping the floor.

8. Go for a drive or better still a walk. Walking and saying your lines can be quite relaxing.

9. Learn the cue lines that lead in to each of your lines. Being prompt with your lines will give you and your fellow actors more confidence.

10. As you say or read the lines, follow the thought pattern of each speech and the overall progression of the scene. Your lines are a part of the play. They don’t exist on their own.

11. In rehearsals, listen to and think about what the other actors are saying. Don’t just concentrate on what you’ve got to say.

12. Make a recording of the cast reading the script and use this to practise with so that you get used to hearing the other characters’ voices.

For more dramatic content, check out www.goeread.com.

Inspirational Quotes From Famous Actors

If you are having a hard day or are just generally down and out, here are some inspirational quotes from famous actors to get you on the right track!

“If you get a chance to act in a room that somebody else has paid rent for, then you’re given a free chance to practice your craft.” —Philip Seymour Hoffman on auditioning

“If all the circumstances of acting are made too easy, then there’s no grain of sand to make the pearl.” —Peter Sarsgaard

“If you live in the past that’s depression, and if you live in the future that’s anxiety. So you have no choice but to live in the present.” —Sarah Silverman

“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” —Geena Davis

“You’re not going there to get a job. You’re going there to present what you do.” —Bryan Cranston on auditioning

“Goals on the road to achievement cannot be achieved without discipline and consistency.” —Denzel Washington

“Giving voice to characters that have no other voice—that’s the great worth of what we do.” —Meryl Streep

“It’s important to say that the more challenging a scene is, in a way, the more fun it is because the more of my job I get to do.” —Daniel Radcliffe

“For me, our job as artists is to serve the story, serve the director, and serve the fellow actors. And if you do that, by osmosis you’re serving yourself because you’ll get the best out of yourself.” —David Oyelowo

“If you’re an actor, even a successful one, you’re still waiting for the phone to ring.” —Kevin Bacon

“My thought process has always been, I’m excited to show you what my version of this story would look like. You’re going to be able to get a little condensed show. That took the pressure off getting the job” —Tituss Burgess

“Without wonder and insight, acting is just a business. With it, it becomes creation.” —Bette Davis

“I’ve always approached things with hunger and just enough fear. Plenty of confidence, you know, but just enough fear to work extra hard. Paralyzing fear does nothing, but the kind of fear that makes you nervous enough to really be aware and focused? I like that kind of fear.” —Queen Latifah

“Learn to live your life—there’s no recipe for it. You can’t go to acting school to learn to be a deep person with a lot of experience to draw from; you can only become that person by feeling, by getting hurt, by feeling incredibly happy, by seeing the world; those are the things that make you richer as a person and give you a much bigger bank to draw from when you bring characters to life.” —Pablo Schreiber

“We think too much and feel too little.” —Charlie Chaplin

“When you’re in a theater, it’s about reaching the back rows. When you have a camera in your face, it’s just about knowing the size of the room.” —Corey Stoll

“An actor is at most a poet and at least an entertainer.” —Marlon Brando

For more dramatic content, check out www.goeread.com.