by Jean Schiffman
By the time we reach our 50s, most of us are all too aware that our brains are crammed so full there is hardly any room left. If we never used to have trouble remembering where we put the car keys, now we do. Similarly, for older actors, if we used to be quick studies, we probably no longer are.
Chances are we haven't lost our ability to memorize altogether. But we may have to teach the old dog some new tricks. And we'll also probably need to set aside more time for the process. Most of the older actors who talked to Back Stage West/Drama-Logue said they prefer to do most, if not all, of their memorization before rehearsals start.
Here are some approaches (and health maintenance tips) to try, culled from a variety of sources, including working actors in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Mix and match as you will. The more of your five senses you can involve, the better, advised one actor.
1. Let your body remember. Even if you haven't ridden a bicycle in years, you don't have to think about how to do it; you just climb on and trust your muscles to do the rest. If you create associations between the text and your body, your movement can actually activate your speech.
San Francisco actor Dean Goodman told BSW/D-L that he tries to find some stage business to associate with the lines. He said it doesn't matter if there's no obvious connection between the words and your action. Try setting up your living room to resemble the set and move around it as you're doing lines. Bay Area actor Terry Lamb, who recently memorized a two-hour monologue, Chaucer's The Knight's Tale, expressed it this way: "Get it into the body. Move with the words."
2. Visualize. Many actors picture the position of their lines on the page. This helps them figure out what comes next. By the time the show has been running for a while, that visual memory usually fades. Other actors find that typing out their lines helps to imprint them on the memory. One actor writes all his cues and lines out by hand several times over.
3. Use your auditory memory. On an Internet website, one actor wrote, "I think it's important to discover for yourself whether you are a person who learns best by hearing or seeing. I struggled for a while until I eventually realized I was learning the other characters' lines faster than I was learning my own. And I guessed that maybe the reason was that I was hearing their lines at rehearsal while I was only seeing mine. I persuaded friends to read my lines to me."
Probably most older actors need to rely on both auditory and visual cues, though. And tape recorders can be a useful tool. One actor reads the entire play into a cassette and then plays the tape back over and over, saying his own lines in unison. San Francisco actor Joan Mankin, who's done a number of solo pieces, puts her own lines on tape (and, if there are other characters, adds their cue lines). Joe Bellan, a master comic actor with a strong feeling for the physicality of roles, tapes only the other actor's lines. So does Wanda McCaddon, who commented that although it's harder to learn lines now than it used to be, once they're learned it's no harder to retain them.
Try listening to music while you're memorizing. "If I can find the right piece of music--classical, but not necessarily--that has a feel of the piece, it helps," reported Terry Lamb. He works along with the sound, relating the words to it in whatever way he can. "It's another hook to pull me along. The more hooks you can find, intellectually, physically in terms of your location on the stage, the better." An added benefit is that listening to complex music is believed by researchers to exercise the brain, thereby potentially strengthening memory.
4. Use mnemonics. You know, find a tricky way of remembering a line or a phrase. Wrote one Internet contributor, "Look for clues. For example, see if key words in the line are in alphabetical order. You find after a while that these clues are constantly varied and fun to figure out. And guess what? You study the lines so hard looking for them that a side effect is you're learning them simply through repetition."
5. Physicalize. Lots of actors find they're more mentally alert moving while they memorize. Joan Mankin walks around Candlestick Point, script in hand, at least an hour a day before and during the rehearsal period and during performance. Joe Bellan is a familiar sight plodding through pastoral Stern Grove with cigar and script, mumbling to himself--three days a week, along with co-actor John Robb, for the month before he started rehearsing Waiting for Godot.
In Alzheimer's studies, researchers have found that increased blood flow during physical exercise sends more oxygen and nutrients to the brain and can in fact help memory.
6. Eat right. James Carpenter, 45, recently had 14 days' notice to fill in as the lead in The Guardsman at American Conservatory Theater. "The role is bigger than God," said Carpenter. "Normally for me a good deal of memorization happens during rehearsal, but there simply wasn't time for this." He popped vitamins and gingko biloba (which some scientists recommend to aid memory). "I swear by the stuff," he said. "I think it helps my mental alertness."
7. Know your objectives. A rule of Method acting, this technique shouldn't be ignored as an aid to memorization. If you can, break the script down into beats before you start to memorize, and have a clear idea of what your character wants during each beat.
Scientists say the more you exercise your brain, the more precious memory you're likely to retain. And don't get discouraged: Our stages are, thankfully, full of octogenarians who are letter-perfect! With good habits and a bit of luck, you should be able to handle, say, Long Day's Journey into Night right up to the door of Ye Olde Actors' Home. BS