Acting Student With Problems Remembering Lines

[Deleted User]

I have a 20 year old son with ASD (aspergers and dyspraxia), he's also due to be assessed for ADHD and anxiety. He is a fine actor, and due to audition for a new acting college.

He has always had problems learning and remembering his lines. He desperately wants to act. One of his challenges is finding a way to remember his lines. He can't write well, doesn't have the patience to do what I do when I need to memorise something and type/write his lines over and over til he can remember the lines.

Does anyone know of other memorising methods? I've had some success with concentrating on significant words and letting the rest flow from that.

This time I'm going to try just having him do a couple of lines at a time from his audition monologue and see if that helps. This is his second acting college course, he has problems with stress and anxiety which doesn't help with remembering lines for an audition lol.

I know people will say he should do another course, but he just won't and I feel we need to allow him to follow his dreams, finding a way to overcome challenges.

If anyone can think of something, I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

This college does seem prepared to support him, the last one didn't.

pigpen

Sing them? Rap them??

pick out key words and ad-lib... worked for Robin Williams!!

Read them in silly voices??

put movement to the words.. choreographed recollection.. it could just be a simple finger tap or a full on dance routine.. whatever floats his boat!

My son finds a coloured overlay helps him remember.. The white glare of paper is distracting and makes the words 'wriggle about more' he says.. so we go with it!

White noise in the background sometimes helps or wearing earplugs to block out everything else..

Dill

Can he remember things better if he hears them as opposed to reading them? Maybe record the lines he needs to learn and play it back to him, rather than have him read them off a page?

Just a suggestion.

[Deleted User]

Actually the white noise suggestion might have other uses. My younger son also has ASD and still struggles with sleep problems. I saw a TV programme where they found a white noise lamp was installed and suddenly the young lad was sleeping through.

Has anyone found this work? Both my sons like wearing earphones but they normally play TV programmes etc, and with my younger son I have to be careful to make sure its just loud enough for him to hear otherwise it actually keeps him awake.

belfastgirl23

For the white noise thing you could try a sleep app. Sleep pillow is good for example - you can pick from a range of different noises including the sea, rain etc...

[Deleted User]

Be like Sherlock Holmes.. create a memory palace!

You think of a familiar place, like your home, and place the lines (mentally) as signs around your house. You join your strong memory of the home with the memory of the lines.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace

lulu_92

I used to hate learning lines when I did drama at college and uni. I agree that the picking key words and ad-libbing technique is a very good way to remember them without sitting in front of a script for hours, trying to make the words stay in your mind.

Maybe props would work, almost like a trigger? For example if he's reciting a monologue and has to pick up something, could the act of picking it up prompt his next line (although I appreciate this wouldn't work for every single line/word!)

pigpen

deannatrois wrote: »

Actually the white noise suggestion might have other uses. My younger son also has ASD and still struggles with sleep problems. I saw a TV programme where they found a white noise lamp was installed and suddenly the young lad was sleeping through.

Has anyone found this work? Both my sons like wearing earphones but they normally play TV programmes etc, and with my younger son I have to be careful to make sure its just loud enough for him to hear otherwise it actually keeps him awake.

yes that is why I suggested it.. my 4 y/o has to have noise to sleep and my dyspraxic/dyslexic 20 y/o needs to have something just loud enough to hear whenever he is doing anything.. he mumbles to himself if there is nothing else and he is one of those freaky people that talks to themselves while out walking.. He can't have earphones.. big chunky headphones are ok for game playing but he can't have stuff touching him as it creates havoc with his dyspraxia.

ravilious_fan

I'm intrigued as to how someone with that condition could 'inhabit' and create another character. Actors are normally very well tuned-in to emotions, - theirs and other peoples. Aspergers means you struggle socially and have trouble interpreting language/emotions, no?

TBagpuss

rather than writing them out, he could try reading them over and over, either out loud (assuming he can do so where he won't drive anyone else present nuts!)
or reading them into a dictaphone and listening over and over.

Setting them to music might help but I would imagine it might also break down at the point where you have to speak, rather than sing them, if you can only remember them as a song.

For some things, watching film of other performers may help - obviously much easier for things like shakespeare than newer or less well known plays, but it might help.

[Deleted User]

ravilious_fan wrote: »

I'm intrigued as to how someone with that condition could 'inhabit' and create another character. Actors are normally very well tuned-in to emotions, - theirs and other peoples. Aspergers means you struggle socially and have trouble interpreting language/emotions, no?

This is something that often puzzled me, no doubt about the lack of empathy at times. My son struggles at first with this but once I manage to create a link with his experience (he has experienced a lot) he really gets into the charactor and portrays it very well. Believe it or not he's very talented. The barriers between reality and imagination are thin for him. Like a lot of things, its both a strength and a challenge, just has to be handled the right way.

There's been a play and movie based on this kind of theme (reality and imagination having thin barriers for a kid with aspergers). Can't remember the name of it right now. Overdone it a bit today myself. Its not uncommon for an aspergic person to be a good actor, believe it or not. I'll add to this when I feel a bit better.