How to Prepare Lines for an Audio Drama or Radio Play

You’ve been cast in an audio drama: a podcast series, a community radio play, a student production with one good microphone. The best news comes in the first email. You probably won’t be expected to be off book. Most of the time, the script stays in your hand.

Then you get to the studio. Your eyes are glued to the page, your face is doing nothing because nobody can see it, and on playback you sound exactly like what you are: a person reading aloud. The other actors seem to be talking to each other. You seem to be talking to paper.

The short version: you usually don’t have to memorize an audio drama, but you have to prepare more than a reader does. Know the scene well enough to look up from the page, learn the cues cold, mark the script for breaths and silent page turns, and make every choice the audience can’t see audible. Then rehearse with your eyes off the page.

Know the script, even if you don’t memorize it

Reading on mic is normal. A YorkMix piece about a York stage actor’s appearance on the BBC radio serial The Archers put it plainly: radio actors often read their scripts as they record. The same piece notes that the actor had memorized his lines anyway, as he would for TV or stage.

You don’t have to go that far, but it’s worth knowing why he did. A line you know only from the page comes out at the speed of your reading, not the speed of the character’s thinking. A line you already know comes out at the speed of the scene. The script stays in your hand as a safety net, not as the thing you are performing from.

So aim for “nearly off book.” You should be able to glance down, take in a whole line or half a speech, and say it while looking at the microphone or your scene partner. If you have to read every word as you say it, you’re not ready yet. Our guide to preparing for a staged reading covers the same script-in-hand skill for a live audience.

Learn the cues, not just your lines

On stage, a late cue is a small pause the audience can fill by watching faces. On audio, it’s dead air. The listener hears nothing at all, and the scene goes flat. That makes cue pickup more important on mic than almost anywhere else.

Craig Hart’s guide to the craft of audio drama makes the related point that actors should stay in the scene and react, rather than politely waiting for the other actor to finish. You can only do that if you know what the other character is about to say, and what in it makes you answer.

Start by hearing the whole thing. Upload the script to Offbook and play it with Just listen, which reads the whole scene aloud, every character included, so you hear how it moves. On a phone, you can listen to it on the way to the studio.

Then rehearse it with your part left open. In Offbook, realistic voices read every other character and play the next cue when you finish your line, so you get the timing of a real exchange without waiting for a castmate. Our guide to picking up cues has drills for tightening the gap, and the free run lines tool lets you practice the skill on classic scenes with no account.

Make what the audience can’t see audible

On stage, half of the story is what the audience sees: who is holding the cup, who has just walked in, who is pretending not to listen. On audio, they get none of that. Every action has to come through the voice. Here is the opening of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest:

ALGERNON: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

LANE: I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.

ALGERNON: I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—anyone can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.

LANE: Yes, sir.

ALGERNON: And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

LANE: Yes, sir.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1, public domain (Standard Ebooks).

In a theater, the audience hears the piano stop, sees Algernon walk in, and sees Lane laying out tea. On mic, they have to hear it. Algernon’s first line needs the energy of someone who has just stopped playing and wants praise. Lane is doing a job while he talks, and you can let that sit in the voice: a little distracted, a little busy.

Then there are the two “Yes, sir” lines. On stage, Lane’s face does the comedy. On audio, the whole joke is in how he says two words. Decide what each one means: the first could be patient, the second could be the point where he’s stopped listening. If they sound the same, the listener loses the scene.

Hart puts the general rule well: when a character stands up or sits down, “the listener should hear that effort.” Mark every physical action in your script and decide how it changes the line, whether it’s a breath, a strain, or a change in pace.

Keep your face working

It’s tempting to stop acting from the neck up, since nobody can see you. Don’t. Your face changes your voice. In a University of Portsmouth study reported by ScienceDaily, listeners could tell different kinds of smile apart from the sound of the voice alone, including a smile the speaker was trying to hide.

That’s useful for an audio actor in two ways. First, play the scene fully, with your face and body, inside the limits of the mic. A smirk on Lane’s “Yes, sir” will be heard. Second, if a take sounds flat, check what your face was doing before you change anything else.

Mark your script for the mic

An audio script is a working tool, and it needs different marks from a stage script. Radio director Tony Palermo’s production notes give two rules every actor should know: turn your script pages quietly, off to the side, and assume every mic is always on. A rustle or a whispered “where are we?” is on the recording.

• Mark the page turns. Find every place a speech runs onto a new page. Plan to turn during someone else’s line, not in the middle of yours.
• Mark the breaths. A gasp before a long line is louder on mic than on stage. Mark where you’ll breathe so you can take it early and quietly.
• Mark the cue words. Underline the last few words of the line before each of yours, so you know when to come in without hunting.
• Mark the actions. Write a one-word note wherever the character moves, eats, works, or reacts, so you remember to put it in the voice.

Palermo also describes a cue rehearsal, used to learn the story and fix delivery and pronunciation. Bring a pencil to it. Anything you change there should be on your page before the first take. Our guide to voiceover auditions covers marking copy for a solo read, which uses many of the same habits.

Use the microphone as your stage

On audio, distance from the mic is where you are in the scene. A University of Westminster student director’s audio drama production diary describes how an actor’s position relative to the microphone tells the listener where the character is. In her production, an actor stood closer for narration and took a small step back for the scenes with other characters.

You can use that the same way you’d use the stage. Move in for a private thought or a whisper. Ease back to call across a room. Turn a little away to suggest the character has left. Palermo suggests 10 to 18 inches as a usual working distance for radio acting, but ask the engineer what they want on the day.

Know one thing about getting close. With a directional mic, such as the common cardioid type, coming in close boosts the bass. This is called the proximity effect. Performers use it on purpose for warmth and intimacy, but if you lean in without thinking, your voice can turn boomy. Move in for a reason, and move back out.

Rehearse with your eyes off the page

Practice reading with your eyes up as much as you can, using the staged-reading habit: look down, take in the line, look up, then say it. Never speak while your eyes are on the paper, except in a long speech where you have to.

Practice it at home with the script on a stand at the height a mic would be. Say every line to a point just past the stand, as if your scene partner were there. When you can do a whole scene with your eyes up for most of each line, you’re ready for the studio.

A week plan for an audio drama

1. Day 1: Listen to the whole script read aloud, start to finish, without picking up a pencil.
2. Day 2: Read it again and mark every action, every page turn, and every cue word.
3. Day 3: Learn your cues. Say the last words of each cue line, then your first words, until the link is instant.
4. Day 4: Run your scenes with the other parts read to you, eyes up as much as you can.
5. Day 5: Record yourself on your phone and listen with your eyes closed. Does every action come through?
6. Day 6: Run the whole part once more with the script on a stand, turning pages silently.
7. Day 7: Rest your voice. Pack a pencil, water, and a clean copy of the script.

Questions actors ask

Do you have to memorize lines for a radio play?

Usually not. Radio and audio drama actors often read from the script as they record. But you should know it well enough to look up from the page for most of each line. Some actors choose to memorize anyway, so the lines come out at the speed of the scene rather than the speed of their reading.

How do you act with only your voice?

Keep acting with your whole body, within the limits of the mic, because your face and body change your voice. Decide how every action the audience can’t see changes each line, and use distance from the microphone to show where your character is.

How do I keep page turns off the recording?

Plan every turn in advance, during another actor’s line, and turn pages quietly off to the side. It also helps to take out the staples before the session, so each page can slide away without a rustle.

How do I sound less like I’m reading?

Know the script well enough to look up. Look down, take in the line, look up, and say it to your scene partner or to the mic. Learn your cues so you come in on time, and record a practice run to hear where you still sound like you’re reading.