Rehearsing with a prompter: rehearsal mode for your lines

Listening gets you a long way. Once you have heard your play a few times with distinct voices, you know the scenes, the cues and the rhythm of the dialogue. But at some point listening is no longer enough: the lines have to come out of your own mouth, without looking at the script, at the pace of the scene. That is what rehearsal mode in the Theatilo app is for. It turns the voice trainer into a scene partner that speaks the other roles, listens to your lines and helps you when you get stuck.

How does rehearsal mode work?

Open your play in the app's voice trainer and switch from "Listen" to "Rehearse" at the top. Then pick your role, or several if you are double-cast. All other roles are read aloud as usual, each with its fixed voice, and the stage directions too if you like. When your line comes up, the app pauses and listens. As you speak, the recognised words in the text turn green. Once the line is there, the scene simply carries on and the next role answers you.

The whole time you can see the text of the scene, your own lines and everyone else's. Tap any line to start the rehearsal right there, for example if you only want to repeat that tricky entrance in the second act.

The prompter helps when you get stuck

Every rehearsal has that moment when your mind suddenly goes blank. If it stays quiet when it is your turn, the prompter whispers the first words of your line, in your role's voice. If you falter in the middle of a sentence, it picks up exactly there and gives you the next words. If nothing comes after that, it moves on to the following words instead of repeating the same ones. If you would rather not wait, the prompter button gives you help right away.

Rehearsal mode respects pauses that are written into the script. If your line contains an ellipsis, a dash or a stage direction in brackets, you get more time at that point before the prompter steps in. That way you can play a dramatic pause without anyone cutting in.

Do I have to say my lines word for word?

Not quite, and that is deliberate. Small deviations and swallowed endings are accepted. A different word order is recognised too: whether you say "I don't want you sitting on that chair" or "Sitting on that chair, I don't want you", your line still counts. A different word with the same meaning, on the other hand, does not count as a match. In a longer line that hardly matters; in a short sentence you will get a hint.

You decide how exact it has to be. Strictness can be set to "Relaxed", "Normal" or "Strict"; with "Strict", word order counts too. If you are way off with a line, the app reads it to you once. After that you either say it again yourself or the scene moves straight on, which is also a setting. You can also choose how long the app waits during silence and how many words the prompter whispers at a time.

Play it like on stage

On stage you speak longer passages in one go. Rehearsal mode goes along with that: if several of your text blocks follow each other, just keep talking. The app recognises where one block ends and the next one begins and follows you without interrupting.

If there is a stage direction between your blocks, your acting decides. Stay silent and the app reads the direction aloud and then listens again. Carry straight on, because for you the action flows into the next sentence without a pause, and the app skips the direction and stays with you.

Hide your own lines

For the last step before rehearsing off book there is the "Hide my lines" switch. Your lines then appear only as dots, with the length of each word kept as a small memory aid. As you speak, the recognised words appear, and after your turn the whole line is there to read. The other roles' lines stay visible so you don't lose the thread.

Your voice stays on your device

Rehearsing is personal. Nobody needs to hear how often you stumbled over the same passage. That is why the speech recognition in rehearsal mode runs entirely on your smartphone. Your voice and the recognised text are never sent to us or any other service and are not stored. Your director can't see whether or how you rehearsed either. The first time, the app downloads the speech recognition once, about 55 MB, ideally over Wi-Fi. After that it listens without passing anything on.

What you need for rehearsal mode

Rehearsal mode is available in the app for iOS and Android. The act you want to rehearse needs to have audio; your director creates it with one click in the web app, and from then on it is available to the whole ensemble. For now, rehearsal mode supports plays in German. You will find step-by-step instructions in the voice trainer help.

If your group doesn't use Theatilo yet, you can try the platform free for 60 days: upload your play, import it, generate audio for an act, pick your role and get started. The prompter is already in the box.