What is the best way to memorize a monologue ? (Mark Antony's to be spsecific)?

Question

I have to memorize Antony's (in)famous monologue from act 3 and was wondering what any of you aspiring actors or anyone else would recommend.

Answer 1

Ditto the above: write in on a notecard or two, carry it with you, and read it over and over whenever you have a free minute. You know, waiting in line (we wait in line all day for different things and now you have something to do in that time), during commercials during a TV show, while someone else is driving somewhere, at meals, inbetween homework assignments, while walking to class/wherever... Then highlight the lines you have memorized. You'll have the satisfaction that you are learning it as you see more and more lines highlighted. I use this method when learning foreign language lyrics for my voice lesson pieces.

Answer 2

I don't know if it`s the best way, but for me it is. in short when memorizing a monologue you have to know exactly what the character wants to say in it. You have understand first the main idea of the monologue and resume it in a phrase that you keep in mind because this has to be the end result. After that you want to feel the character`s emotions. By far anger and lust are easy to recognize, but there are always subtle thoughts that spice the monologue up. take your script and read is in front of a mirror several times, but also keeping the main idea in mind. As you read, you can break up this simple phrase in other several small ones. By doing this you establish guide lines. From this moment on you just have to learn the words. You take every small idea and repeat (always in front of a mirror or at least one person) the part of the script that contains it. After you manage to memorize the words (not necessarily the exact words, maybe a synonym here and there, and things like it) you have to learn to act it. To do so, you have to take the characters emotions, actually be the character. But that is a whole new story

Answer 3

There are lots of ways of memorizing the lines. I know some actors who record their lines and listen to them back, some write them down, others just go over them constantly. Whatever you find helps, you should use.

However, one big piece of advice. While learning the lines, make sure you also learn the intent. At sometime in your career, you will forget a line. Everyone does. But if you are listening to the other actor's line, and you have a clear intent as to what you want to say with your next line, you will often remeber the lines when it comes time to speak them. And even if you don't, you can at least say something that sounds close to it, instead of "um,um,umn."

Answer 4

Every thespian had a different technique to memorize a monologue. For me it is easiest just to read it over and over then recite it. First in my mind then spoken. I don't practice it in the mirror till I know everyline. Plus sometimes it's easier to remember the emotions that go with the lines. Memorizing them can help you remember the lines.
Plus Everytime I mess up I make myself start over from the begining. One of my friends sings the lines to herself. Another one of my friends simply repeats each line to himself over and over then puts it all together. Try a bunch of different ways and find which one works best for you. Everyone is different so what someone else does might not work right for you!

Answer 5

My guess is that the fundamentalists who fear/believe this have generalized "mark" to be anything long-lasting that wasn't there when they were born. So a tattoo, scar, or even microchip all seems like the same thing to them. I don't buy the explanation put here about "mark" having the meaning of "scratch" in "something put on the skin" in ancient greek, though. I suspect that most of these fundamentalists wouldn't know if it was greek, latin, or any other language.

Answer 6

I usually write it out on a piece of paper and keep it in my pocket. I take it out when I have a chance and work on memorizing it. You can also rewrite it several times until you almost feel like the words are coming out of your own brain. You can also tape record yourself reading it and play it in the car on on headphones if you have a tape player. These are just a couple of ideas that I've used before.

Answer 7

Mark Antony Monologue

Answer 8

Break it down into sections. Memorize each section so that you can recite any section in any order. That way you will be less likely to get lost.

Answer 9

Just do it again and again and again and again. Start from the beginning, if you mess up, make yourself start from the beginning again.