A rose by any other word...wait...what's my line?

I have been involved in theatre for 15 years, and in those years, I’ve done lots of challenging things onstage including: changing costumes 32 times in one show, riding a motorized platform from the balcony to the stage, kissing my best friend’s husband while she watched from the wings, and even playing a virgin while 4 months pregnant (that one wasn’t as challenging for me as it was for the costumer). The one thing that has never been a challenge for me is memorizing lines…until now.

People frequently ask me “how I do it.” Typically, the answer is easy because I don’t actively “do” anything. Most plays are rehearsed repetitively enough that with some time spent running through lines at home, your next line pops into your head just like the next line of your favorite song. If I said “Oh say, can you see…” you’d say “…by the dawn’s early light,” right? The same thing goes for choreography. I’m not a dancer, but I’m not immune to the reality of muscle memory either. Now, seven years later, I can still do most of the dance steps to Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest.”

Then I was cast as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Hoooo, buddy! The moment I finished highlighting my lines, I had the weirdest feeling. It was a mixture of panic and exhilaration and joy and claustrophobia. It reminded me of the feeling you get when you find out you’re pregnant, or when the roller coaster starts going up the lift-hill with you strapped into the front seat.

How in the world was I going to memorize these lines?! It’s not like if you mess up on stage you can just improvise your way out of it; you either say it the right way, or you fall flat on your face! I did what any self-respecting person would do in this situation. I Googled “how to memorize Shakespeare.”

Google told me that the whole “Iambic Pentameter” thing can actually be quite helpful, but only if you listen to your lines. After all, Shakespeare didn’t intend for his plays to be read, he intended for them to be heard! So I diligently recorded all my scenes onto my iPad and have listened to them many times since.

The trickiest part? It’s the little words. Since Shakespeare invented anywhere from 1,500 to 10,000 words (depending on your source) it came as no surprise that he really doesn’t concern himself with grammar. “In this line is it ‘who’ or ‘that?’” Don’t count on grammar to point you in the right direction.

Shakespeare also likes to take a few words in every sentence and just flip flop them to make them interesting. Take “Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!” If you’re like me, your brain will automatically change this line to “Give me, give me! O, tell me not of fear!” And your brain will likely try to change it EVERY time you attempt to say it out loud.

Many times I’ve been running through my lines with my mom, or my husband, or my brother, or my scene partner and end up cursing, hitting something or someone (sorry, Romeo!), or just growling in frustrating agony because I can’t remember if it’s “thee” or “thou” in this particular line.

Now it’s time to put the script down, add in the set, costumes, lighting, and oh yeah, do some acting. Wish me well!