Pick an audition date and how many minutes a day you actually have — get back a day-by-day prep schedule that moves through foundation, memorisation, shaping, polish, and taper phases. Each day points at the specific tool and the scene partner drill that lands the work. Built so prep is sequenced, not scrambled.
Read the play. Name the want. Find the three internal beats. No memorisation yet.
Read the surrounding scene aloud, then read your piece twice
Time the full piece once at conversational pace — note the seconds
Mark the three internal beats on the page in pencil
Read the piece once aloud against the scene partner with script in hand
Read the play. Name the want. Find the three internal beats. No memorisation yet.
Read the surrounding scene aloud, then read your piece twice
Time the full piece once at conversational pace — note the seconds
Mark the three internal beats on the page in pencil
Read the piece once aloud against the scene partner with script in hand
Off-book by end of phase. Cover-and-check loops, no hand-holding from the script.
Cover-and-check drill: first-letter cues through the full piece
Run the piece once against the scene partner without script
Write out the closing line by hand five times to lock the button
One slow run aloud, half-volume, no performance pressure
Off-book by end of phase. Cover-and-check loops, no hand-holding from the script.
Cover-and-check drill: first-letter cues through the full piece
Run the piece once against the scene partner without script
Write out the closing line by hand five times to lock the button
One slow run aloud, half-volume, no performance pressure
Choices on every beat. Subtext, breath, intentions named on the page. Pace honest.
Subtext pass: name an intention for each beat on the page
Mark breath points — where the text actually wants you to breathe
Pace drill: one run at target words-per-minute with moving highlight
One full run against the scene partner with intentions baked in
Choices on every beat. Subtext, breath, intentions named on the page. Pace honest.
Subtext pass: name an intention for each beat on the page
Mark breath points — where the text actually wants you to breathe
Pace drill: one run at target words-per-minute with moving highlight
One full run against the scene partner with intentions baked in
Light rehearsal only. Two clean runs, slate drill, full vocal warmup. Sleep early.
Slate drill: read all four variations and pick one for the room
Two clean runs against the scene partner — no notes, no analysis
Full vocal warmup, end with a long sigh on descending pitch
Lay out outfit, audition slip, sides, water. Phone on charge
Warm up cold, run the piece twice, leave the rehearsal room. Do not over-drill.
Full vocal warmup before you leave the house
One full run at performance speed against the scene partner
Drill the slate three times, then leave it alone
Read the closing line out loud three times — that is it
How this schedule works. Audition prep collapses into one of three failure modes: under-prepared (no time spent), over-prepared (the same drill repeated every day until the piece reads as choreographed), or scrambled (random work on different parts of the prep without progression). This schedule fixes the third one by sequencing the work into phases — foundation, memorisation, shaping, polish, taper — so each day's drill builds on the previous day's.
Inside each phase, the tasks point you at the specific tool that handles that part of the prep — duration calculator early, memorisation drill mid-week, breath marks and pace trainer in the shaping phase, self-tape timer in polish. The scene partner tool sits at the centre of every phase because the piece has to be rehearsed against an actual line cue, not solo in your bedroom.
For the day-of pacing, lean light. The audition is won in the polish phase, not on the morning of. The taper and day-of drills are designed to keep your voice warm and your nerves quiet, not to add new choices.
Tip: if you have fewer than three days, the schedule compresses to polish + taper + audition day automatically — the foundation and memorisation phases get dropped because they need lead time to do any work. Pick a piece that is already in your body when the audition is that close.
Then start today's drill against our scene partner and the schedule turns into reps in the body, not boxes on a checklist.
Run Lines Online reads the other characters aloud — 20 unique voices, no scene partner needed. Free.