Learning a new routine can be difficult. You must remember your lines, the figure's lines, who says what and when, and what order everything goes. This is on top of concentrating on lip control and manipulation. Ideally we should have plenty of time to learn new material, but more often than not this just isn't the case. Some performers also customize their shows, so each one requires different topics or perhaps names of people in the audience to be inserted into the routine. How do we memorize all this in a reasonable amount of time? Here are some tips which may help.
Smaller bites are easier to take when working on a new routine. Divide the routine into different chunks of material. Even a small bit will probably have an opening, middle, and close. The middle section may even be broken down further into different subjects or lines of thought. When rehearsing, concentrate on learning one chunk of material at a time. Once you have the first one down, go to work on the next chunk. Once you pretty well know it, go back and rehearse the first one and keep going on through the second one. This review will not only help you know the material, but its order. If you continue learning one small chunk at a time, followed by going back and rehearsing from the beginning and adding the new section on, it won't be long until you are very familiar with the routine.
Even with this method of learning, you might have concerns about drawing a blank of forgetting something when on actually performing onstage. This is where cue cards can come in handy. Some people might think this isn't professional, but keep in mind that cue cards are constantly used in movies, television and concerts. If big name singers can use them to prompt lyrics for songs they've done for years, there's no reason we can't take advantage of them to jog our memories for new routines. However, there are some tricks to using them.
Cue cards need to be as inconspicuous as possible, so writing out the complete routine won't work out well. You don't want to have a huge pile of prompts all over the place. Jot down some key words on index cards that will help you to recall each section of the script. This could be one word that is the subject of a joke or a short phrase that helps you recall a topic. Since you should be pretty familiar with the routine at this point, a few key words for each chunk of material will be enough to keep you going if you need help. When working on an entirely new show with several figures, you could use one index card with the order of the performance, and other cards for the individual routines. After you've performed the new act a few times, the one show order card, with a couple key words on it for each figure, will be sufficient to jog your memory and you won't need so many cue cards.
Placement of the cards on stage can be tricky. They need to be easily seen by you, but not obvious to the audience. This is when you can be sneaky. If you use a case sitting on a table to hold a figure, put the cards on the edge of the table so they can be seen by you while performing. You don't want to lean over and look at them, but have the cards located so a quick glance will give you the information. If you set the stage so that you can see inside an open trunk, tape cards on the sides or top. Some performers tape them to the floor in front of them. Duane Laflin has a sign on the floor at the front of the stage displaying his name, and on the back are cue cards. Some vents pin prompts on small pieces of paper to the back shoulder of the figure. Even the base of a mic stand or back of a speaker can be used. As you rehearse, look around for places where cards can be placed which on your equipment that will not be obvious. When you are at the show site, look for other spots, such as the back of a chair, easel, vase, or whatever else might work. Most importantly, make sure you can easily see them and the key words are written large enough to be easily read.
There are times when you can be pretty brazen about using cue cards. Books can be worked into routines when you are telling a story, and they are good places to hide cues. Just open the book with the routine taped to the pages, holding it so the audience can't see what you've added. When doing a song or poem, the figure can say he doesn't know it very well. You can then bring out a card or piece of paper for the character to read from. As long as it looks natural and there is a reason for using it, a prop with prompts on it can come in handy. Be creative and you'll find spots for cue cards to get you through the show.
After a while, you will need to rely less and less on the prompts. If you are using several cards, you can consolidate them into one when you have the routine pretty well down. Pretty soon you won't need any type of prompt at all. Don't throw them away, but file them away. If you sometime in the future want to use the routine again, they could come in handy in helping you recall it.
Learning a new show can be difficult, but these suggestions should help make it easier and jog your memory once you are onstage.