Sense Memory

Sense Memory

A great tool for actors to make their performance real is the use of sense memory. If you have a scene where you handle objects, drink booze or in pain, the use of sense memory is essential. What is sense memory? If you are in a scene where your character has to drink a straight shot of whisky, of coarse you don’t want to use real booze so what you must do is remember how booze tastes. In rehearsals and when you are working on the play by yourself, take a glass of water and sip it as if it was real liqueur. Take a sip, feel the sting on your tongue. When you swallow feel the liqueur going down your throat. Your sense will remember real booze and any reaction from it will be real without faking it. All you have to do is remember how it really feels and your reaction will be so real that the audience after the show will ask you if you drank real booze. The same with climate. If the scene calls for cold weather, where do you feel it? If you feel cold in your back first and shiver, remember that feeling and and the shiver will be spontaneous. You can fine tune your sense memory by practicing holding and sipping a hot cup of coffee with an empty hand. Remember the weight, feel the hot coffee on your tongue. This is extended to the use of objects. If your character is handling something of tremendous value than it must be handled that way. If you believe it is valuable you will not treat it like a prop. Working with objects during a scene can be tricky. A good exercise is to practice a monologue while you are doing dishes or some other physical activity. Doing a physical task during a scene takes you away from yourself and adds a reality and spontaneity to the scene.