Memorizing Shakespeare with ScenePartner
There’s a relatively new online product out that was created to help actors learns lines. Just click on over to MemorizeShakespeare.com and see what the buzz is about.
The whole idea behind this method is that learning by ear the most effective way to remember text, just like the way you learn song lyrics or another language. The learning is entirely audio. There’s no text to read so that you don’t memorize the page layout rather than the text, you instantly know how to pronounce words, the rhythm of the text, and you don’t have to worry about hurting your arm with the weight of the complete works in your hand. You can even download your cues to practice with once you learn your lines.
Sounds pretty good, right? Before going any further let me take this opportunity to invite you to try it for yourself. You can download their sample and learn Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy. Although there are plenty of helpful tips out there to help actors learn lines, most experienced actors have a method that works for them after years of experimenting. This one might work for you, it might not.
The advantages I mentioned above sound good and it’s definitely better than nothing. But for someone who is serious about succeeding in acting Shakespeare’s text this method is not the alpha and omega of learning lines.
There is a fair level of inflexibility with recorded text. In any given production, lines may be cut. With ScenePartner, each cue is a single track. But sometimes pieces of lines are cut. A few lines in the middle of a speech may be removed, words are different depending on the source, and directors may even alter words. Punctuation is different in various editions which can alter phrasing and meaning and the recorded version might not correspond perfectly.
Students beware. You might be new to acting Shakespeare and glad to find a resource that tells you how to pronounce the words and memorize the text easier, but do you know what all the words mean? I would recommend not learning any lines until you have discovered what the difficult or unfamiliar words mean. You can’t act words you don’t know. Please take the time to figure out what you’re saying first, no matter what method of memorization you use.
If actors were to do their homework to find definitions, do scansion, play with the imagery in the text, and make the words their own so that the words aren’t merely being recited, this resource may be a good addition (not substitute) to the methods they employ to learn lines.
From $12-24 per album for lines and another $12-24 for cues (price varies per character), it’s not too much of a hole in your wallet for this help, and if it works for you – by all means, take advantage of this resource!
The long term investment of a good reference books and a digital audio recorder make for a much cheaper alternative if you plan to memorize a lot of Shakespeare.
Billicatons Jan 21
Yes, I agree with your reservations. It’s an interesting idea, but has uncomfortable overtones of karaoke Shakespeare. With dialogue as loaded with resonances, meanings and imagery as Shakey’s, no single rendition could be anything but partial … So the risk is that the listener’s interpretation is heavily prejudiced.
Nevertheless, an interesting idea. And potentially a useful tool once one has studied a text and fixed one’s own interpretation — or for refreshing one’s memory.
Willshill Jan 24
Good advice, Gedaly. After listening to only part of the To Be, I can say that in my opinion something like this could be disastrous for an actor. Even though the reader is trying to be as nondescript as possible, their interpretive inflections are definitely there, and if the speech is memorized in this way, it will be extremely hard to get the aural messages, delivered by rote, out of the equation. As an advocate of “Out-Loud” Shakespeare, it would be so much better for the actor to be hearing his/her OWN voice. I’ve used a similar technique for years now, listening to the lines on tape as I drift off to sleep. But–and a big but–as you warned about, not until I’m sure I’ve done enough interpretive work on the text, always making sure I’ve spoken it out loud enough to really know and understand the what, and how I’m saying the what.
I’m all for entrepreneurship, but a cassette tape is much cheaper, safer, and more productive in the long run.
ScenePartner Jan 29
Thanks for the excellent write up of my site/product/idea. You’re absolutely right that ScenePartner is not a substitute for understanding the text, but that’s not my goal, right?
@Billicatons: We try to avoid anything but the proper scansion of the lines, so the only bias should be towards good rhythm.
@Willshill: The advantage to having multiple mp3s (one for each line) is manifold. Need to refresh one scene more than another? It’s easy to skip to that section. Cassette tapes are great for smaller parts, but if you’re playing Hamlet, you have to record over 2 hours of just your lines. How many times do you have to flip that tape?