4 Steps to Memorize Dialogue

Jun 24

When I first started acting, myself and a lot of my peers were really nervous about memorizing lines. We’d daydream about the day we’d book a big role in a feature film, then stress about showing up to set not knowing our lines. The thought of having to memorize a 90 page script was daunting, to say the least.

As I’ve developed as an actor and spent countless hours auditioning and taking scene study classes, I’ve stopped worrying about memorizing my lines. I now have a technique that gets me reliable, consistent results.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick and easy way to instantly memorize every script you read after looking at it once. It takes a lot of work to teach your brain to memorize things and even more work to get your brain to memorize things quickly. Professional memory champions can teach us a lot about how to do this, but the bottom line is: you have to work at it.

This documentary episode gives a great explanation about how memory works and how those professional memory champions perform at such high levels. One of their techniques for memorizing long strings of numbers is to create a story through those sequences.

As actors, we have the advantage of already having that story written for us! Part of the acting prep process is breaking down and understanding the structure of the scene and its place in the story, which goes a long way towards helping memorize lines. Dialogue is what propels the story along the structure that’s been laid out for it, so as long as you know the structure, you know what needs to be said to move the action to the next point in the story.

It's important you do all your prep work before starting memorization. Every single piece of the acting process - uncovering the core emotional truth of the scene and your character, identifying important story beats, discovering character intention - all help reinforce the structure of the story in your brain. If you’ve got a script with a lot of technobabble or jargon, it’s crucial you define and understand these terms so you know how they serve the character and the story.

Once all those pieces are in place, you’ll never have to worry about forgetting which line is next. You can then use any number of tips and tricks to memorize specific lines of dialogue to get them word perfect.

My technique starts with re-writing the scene longhand. Studies have shown that engaging in what’s called “psychomotor” action increases memory retention as it activates more parts of your brain. The feel of your hand on the paper, the dexterity required to write each letter, and how your brain is forced to slow to your writing speed, all come together to help you commit what you’re writing to your long term memory. I have a notebook that I’ve carried around for years with transcriptions of scenes I’ve performed.

Step two in my process is “verbing” - or assigning an actionable verb to each of my lines of dialogue. An actionable verb is an active thing you can do to your scene partner, such as “hug”, “slap”, or “stomach punch”. The verb has to align with the intention of the dialogue. Don’t use the verb “hug” on the line “I slept with your brother” (unless the context of the scene dictates that you’re joking). Having each verb be something you can physically act out means that you can… well… physically act it out. Recite each line of dialogue (with a scene partner if possible) and physically perform the verb you’ve assigned to the line as you speak it. This way the intention of the line and the line itself are further embedded into your body.

Next, I use the tried and true method of plain ol’ repetition. The more you say the words out loud, the easier they become to remember. One of my acting teachers encouraged me to clap out a steady rhythm while saying each syllable in my line so 👏 each 👏 syl👏 ab 👏 le would 👏 be 👏 dis👏 tinct👏 and 👏 sep 👏 ar 👏 ate. This not only helps carve each word deeper into your memory, but helps prevent you from developing intonation patterns. Keeping intonation patterns out of your memory allows you the freedom to deliver each line in a fresh way with every take, while still keeping the intention.

Sounding each word out like this is also incredibly helpful for those pesky technobabble lines. If you need to say “Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia” for a medical drama audition, you want to make sure you sound like you know what you’re talking about. (By the way, that scary phrase is the medical term for “ice cream headache!)

*I could really go for an ice cream cone in this heat…*

The final test to be sure you have all your lines memorized is the old theatre classic “Italian Run”. All the actors in a scene get together and run the dialogue (and sometimes the blocking) as fast as they possibly can. If you can run the scene without stopping or slowing, you know it’s fully memorized and you can trust yourself to perform at your best! If you don’t have a scene partner, then you can ask a friend to read the script along with you as fast as they can, or speak the other character’s lines yourself.

If you run into a section where you forget the words or slow down too much, stop and figure out what’s causing the block. Is it that you don’t remember what comes next? (A symptom of not understanding the scene structure). Is it that you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish? (Not understanding intention). Is it that you just can’t recall the next word? (Which means you haven’t spent enough time clapping it out.) Once you know what’s causing the disruption, you can go back to an earlier step and work on that section of the scene again.

When you have a last minute audition, it can be tough to do all the prep and the memorization. That’s why my technique is based on getting the prep done first - most casting directors will understand if you don’t have a scene (especially if it’s several pages long) fully memorized in less than 24 hours, but you won’t get cast if you have the scene fully memorized but have no clue how to act it. Besides, once the prep is done, you might be surprised by how much of the scene you’ve already memorized.

So, to summarize:

There’s no shortcut for memorization, you have to put in the work. However, there are techniques that make that work faster
Humans are better at memorizing stories than they are random strings of numbers or words. Since each scene you act is part of a story, it’ll be easier for you to remember
Start by doing all your regular prep. Be sure you understand the structure of the scene, where it fits into the larger story, your character’s emotional truth, and define any unfamiliar terms in the dialogue
Write out the scene longhand. This activity engages more parts of your brain and forces it to slow down and absorb the words you’re writing
Assign actionable verbs to each line of dialogue and physically act them out with a scene partner. This puts the intention and the dialogue into your muscle memory. Make sure the verb is appropriate for the intention and context of the line
Clap out each syllable of your lines. This prevents you from memorizing intonation as well as the words and can help with harder, technical words, such as medical terminology
Test how well you’ve memorized the scene by doing an Italian run - with a partner if possible, alone if you must. If you can’t get through a run, figure out what’s stopping you and go back to an earlier step
Prioritize prep over memorization for last minute auditions. Most casting directors understand that memorization takes time, but you still want to show them that you’re a good actor. Since prep work is the first step in memorization, you might passively remember more dialogue than you expect.

Do you have any memorization tricks? Let me know in the comments!

Featured

About Me

Larissa is a professional audiobook narrator, voice over artist, and actor. With her home recording studio in Vancouver, B.C., she is able to spend her time doing what she loves most - becoming a conduit for stories that resonate with us.