A hear a fair amount, "I'd love to act but I couldn't memorize all those lines." I never know what to say in this situation because that is exactly what I would say...and still think about. I think I'll have to be acting a fairly long time before I don't worry about the very real possibility of going blank right after entering the stage. For the longest time I wasn't sure I would be able to handle any sort of line load. Directors are putting some blind faith in you when they cast you as a newbie. Once you've done a play it's proof that you're brain can handle it, but there still is an element of jumping off a cliff and hoping the parachute opens.What I didn't know until tonight however is that there are different types of memory. Knowledge memory, identity memory, event memory, planning memory, personal memory and autobiographical memory make up various sections in our brain. The kind we all hope to have come opening night is knowledge memory. That's the same type that will recall facts and scores. Hopefully this means if I meet a new person (identity memory) between now and July 17th, I won't discard 3 lines of scene 5. (And if that isn't the case, please NO ONE talk to our lead Jane. Her brain has enough to handle.)
To learn more about the different types of memory, go here: (http://ezinearticles.com/?The
A different way to break it down (complete with neat chart!) http://www.cc.gatech.edu
1 comment:
It does feel like sometimes, when you push one botton in another pops out in the line memorization dept. My experience is that the longer you work with the lines the more imbeded they become. "The Rainmaker" is a show I acted in more than 20 years ago. I went to see it last week and could still remember a lot of the lines, verbatim! Wow! What a shock!
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