Q&A for How to Memorize Your Lines

Practice daily and record yourself reciting your lines so you can listen to the recording frequently.

Divide the number of line you have by the number of days you have to learn them. If you have ten days to memorize one hundred lines, do ten lines per day. You may want to give yourself a day or two of extra time as a cushion in case you find it difficult to put it all together.

It depends on how much time and effort the beginner puts into the memorizing. It also depends on how good the person is at memorizing things in general. He or she may have to try different techniques, from writing down the lines repeatedly to practicing them over and over, before finding one that works.

You can start acting at whatever age you'd like - many professional actors didn't start until later in life. Practice, audition for school plays, join the community theater, get some head-shots done and see if you can attract an agent to get you further auditions.

If you are a quick worker, then yes. I would recommend that you know the lines beforehand and then practice them again shortly before the performance. This will help, as the lines will be fresher in your mind.

Make stuff up -- this is called ad libbing. You just have to hope that (if you are not doing a monologue) that the person that you are talking to catches on and goes along with it.

I recommend breaking apart the big word into sections to help memorization, or try making it into a song or rhyme. Also, writing the big word down and repeating it over and over to make it stick in your mind may work.

It really depends on many factors like how long the lines are, if your lines are just many little segments or a few long paragraphs, how good is your memory, etc. The best you can do is practice as much as you can. You don't need to say exactly what your character says, but the main idea (e.g. instead of saying "I have eaten", you could just say "I've ate").

Learn your cues. Cues are the things that happen inside your play before your part. I recommend you highlight your cues with a highlighter and your dialogue with a different color.

Make stuff up -- this is called ad libbing. You just have to hope that (if you are not doing a monologue) the person to whom you are talking catches on and goes along with it.

Start by reading the whole script and making sure you understand it. Then say the first line over and over in different tones. Say one sentence of your first line, and so on so on. If this doesn't work, say your lines over and over while trying to glance down at your paper only once in a while until you have it.

If you know your character well enough, then you can hopefully ad lib smoothly.

Off Book! It allows you to record lines in your play, and play them back. It can mute your line so you can speak it yourself, and it provides "cues" so you know when it's your turn. It's very helpful.

Translate it into modern day language, and once you've got that fluently, change it back to the old English.

Memorize the last words/sentence of your partner's lines to help you get into the swing of it, it can help you to be on cue every time.

Picture everybody naked. Or close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly before you go on stage.

Yes, that should be plenty of time.

There are several out there, like OffBook and RehearsalPro. Also, you don't need an app to help memorize lines, you can simply record your script or parts of it and recite your lines when they come along. You could even do funny accents and voices to keep the characters separate.

Spend as much time practicing as you can get. Just try to get the main idea of your character, and instead of thinking about it line by line, think about it section by section.

Honestly, that's probably impossible.

Go line by line, saying each repeatedly, then adding on another line, then another, and so on. Break the lines up into scenes, and get into character for each. Practice facial expressions and emotions for each line.

Whenever you practice your lines, block at the same time so that when you are preforming whenever you think of your lines, you also think of the blocking. Another thing to help is to keep switching between practicing lines and blocking. One day block and the other day practice your lines. Once you think you have one or the other mesmerized you can put it together.

If this happens, take some time to understand what the character's personality is like through their lines and act it out. This is called improvisation. Take time and read the whole script if needed. You're bound to get it.

Translate it into your own words. Saying the text in modern translation will not only help you to memorize, but also help you get into character. Once you have rehearsed a few times with the translation, go back to normal text, and just take it a few lines at a time.

Notepad on your phone or notes helps. You can write your lines there and look at them whenever you have a minute, wherever you are.

Well, you should really understand your character's personality and the way they think. This will help your role become more believable.

Don't worry about hesitating, think of it as a dramatic pause.

If the script is written properly, it should be easy to tell. Practice the lines over and over again in each respective personality. Soon enough you will know them well enough to distinguish the personalities.

Record yourself saying the two lines before your line then leave a gap for your line and say the one line after. That way, you can listen to the two parts before so that you have time to prepare the line and it is always helpful to know the one line after, so that you know when you have missed the line.

Yes, you should be able to. Divide it up into thirds - 15 lines each - and work on the first third, then when you've got that down, do the next third, and then the last. Then put it all together. If you work on it every day, you should have no problem memorizing 46 lines in two weeks.