How to Memorize a Monologue

I have an audition coming up. It requires two monologues. Most of the auditions I've done recently have been cold reads (which I love), so I've been out of the memorization game for a while and don’t have any monologues appropriate for the play. Thus, memorization time.

I break memorization down into a series of steps.

First, I take a piece of text, line by line, and build upon each sentence (or phrase if it’s a long one). This way, I review what I previously I learned every time that I add a new sentence.

For example, let’s say that I’m learning “Hey diddle diddle,” the nursery rhyme. First, I would learn “Hey diddle diddle.” I would then add “The Cat and the fiddle.” So my review would be “Hey diddle diddle. The Cat and the fiddle.” Then I would learn the next phrase, and so on, until I've built the foundation of the monologue one phrase at a time, always reviewing what has come before.

Next, if I’m lucky and someone happens to be around, I will ask them to read the monologue as I recite it. I am stickler for each word being correct. The author wrote it that way, and my task as an actor is to bring the author’s words to life. I don’t like to cheat by adding in extra “that's” or “umms.” If I’m wrong, I have them stop me, and I start from the beginning of the monologue, even if I got the very last word of the piece incorrect. Make sure your friend is patient, it can be quite irritating. 

Third, I write the monologue out, by hand. This really helps cement the words for me.

Then, if I can, I review the monologue right before I go to sleep. It is literally the last thing I do before turning off my light.

Finally, I start working on character. Not to say that my ideas haven’t begun to creep in already, but I don’t actively pursue it until I have the words solid. 

People differ, especially on the last step. Further, for me, in actual play rehearsal, character starts to form a lot earlier than my memorization. This is just how I approach monologues. 

One more thing, READ READ READ the play, book, etc.