How do I memorize a shakesperean Lan that i have to perform.

Othello is a play, not a novel.

Read the lines aloud, again and again, untill you can use the underlying meter to ring the language out as a song.

It always helped me to write my lines out five or ten times (saying them aloud as I wrote them), and then start trying to commit them to memory. The combinatino of reading, writing, and speaking helps cement things in my brain.

Also very useful, if you've got somebody to help you out, to try and recite the speech before you really know it. Have the person sit with the book and cue you -- that is, tell you the next three or four words -- whenever you get stuck. In some parts of Europe, actors still learn their lines this way -- on their feet, with the stage manager (or, if they're more well-to-do, their own personal prompter) feeding them lines.

It might help you to practice while pacing, turning for each new line. It worked for me with Shakespeare because of the meter.

Definitely say it out loud. Reading lines to yourself never works.

It may also help if you really think about what the lines mean instead of just trying to memorize. If you practice them like you are having a real conversation it may be easier to picture yourself in the moment when it comes time to say them on stage.

Think of it this way - we all know words to many songs, but the ones that we really know are the songs that we find meaningful - when we associate them with a place, a person or a feeling. Some others we may hear so often that the chorus get stuck in our heads, but the rest is a bit fuzzy.

So, when practicing, hear what it is that you are really saying.

Is it, perchance, the speech before he's going to kill Desdemona?

what

OK, we'll start from the beginning. Shakespeare wrote plays. One of them is about a moor (a negro) in the court of Venice, he's called Othello. The long and short of it is that he's targetted by very nasty person called Iago (Italian for James) who convinces him that his (Othello's wife) has been unfaithful. In a fit of rage, and talking for the entire episode, he strangles her. This is the end of Othello and his career.

The work of Shakespeare is to make this into a true tragedy. Othello is noble, brave and good, his marriage is true. The actions of Iago are then base and cruel. Lacking the up close camera-work of MTV the characters can only say what they feel and mean to make the story work. That is why the lines are so important, they convey to the audience the reasons for this action and the feelings of the participants.

The quickest way for you to get the 'vibe' would be to hire and watch the 1995 version of Othello, with Lawrence Fishburn in the lead. Especially the bits that you are expected to learn!! Good luck!

thank you for those tips thank you so much..

Tell us how it went, MisterE!

well so far i remmamber 8 lines out of 20 so i am getting there i have 1 week left i think i got it. It sucked because i study 8 lines for 5 min i remmambered them perfectly and then about 1 hour later i forgot it sucks. damn

Keep at it - I still remember a Juliet speech that I learned for school in 1973! Once it's in your brain, it's hard to lose.

true true thanks a lot mac

i remembered shakespeare for a school thing too...i did it by reading lines like this (out loud):

Hi!

Hi!
How are you?

Hi!
How are you?
The weather is nice today.

you see how?

(lol btw sorry about the example, i cant think of any shakespeare to use!)

ohh heeh ok i will definitely try that thank you very much...