How do you study lines for a play?

Answer 1

Every actor has his or her own method for internalizing the lines in a play. This is called "the process" and it is not the same for everyone, although the result is the same. The end result is that you will say the words in the script in a way that will make the audience think that you are the character, and those words are the most natural and inevitable way of expressing what is going on with that character.

You need to study what the lines mean, and how they relate to the lines being said by the other actors. It is as important for you to know the other actors' lines as it is to know your own, because you may be called upon to recover in the event that they make a mistake. You also have to know your cues, to see when you are to speak.

You need at some point to know the lines, to know what the actual words in the script are. For some, they do this first thing, for others it comes later. Some learn best by reading them over and over, some by saying them, some by writing them out.

You need to understand why your character is saying these lines. For this, some will build a character sketch, or discuss with the director and other actors what their character is like. Others will try to get themselves into the heads of the character they are playing, using the Stanislavsky method. You need to understand the subtext of the lines, what the character really intends by them.

Also, you need to integrate your lines with the movements you will be making. For some people, the easiest way to remember a line is to remember what you are doing while saying it.

Finally, a lot of this comes out in rehearsal. Do not skimp on rehearsal time because it is in rehearsal that your lines come out in their full context, as responses to the other actors' lines, said from the reality of your character, together with the physical aspect of that character.