Here's my tip for learning any accent: FIND PODCASTS WITH NATIVE SPEAKERS. Preferably find at least one that you also genuinely like. Then: listen to them all the time. Stop and start. Try to replicate the sounds they're making. You want complete immersion, so that you're not just listening to way they're forming sounds and words, but also the cadence and rhythm of the way they speak.
Don't listen to some other actor's attempts at the accent. Go to the source and submerge yourself.
The Line Learner app helps with learning lines. (If $4 is too much, then try Script Rehearser, which is free.)
I don't have any suggestions for accents, other than listening to native speakers of the accent you are aiming for.
The free trial of script reherser pro will let you voice act the whole play (you get a month to record but once you've got the file that's it, you don't lose playback on the free version). If others in the production have the pro version you can ask them for their audio file as well, playback isn't restricted just recording.
Memorization is really about repetition. Read your lines (and CUES) to the point where you only have to glance at the script, then you have to work at taking the next step.
Here are several recordings of native speakers in the Caribbean. (I think one of the Jamaican ones might work best.)
[https://www.dialectsarchive.com/caribbean](https://www.dialectsarchive.com/caribbean)
Pick one you like and mimic it. And remember: the single most important thing is to be understood by the audience.
The interesting thing about Tituba is that historians actually don’t know much about her. There are a lot of clips of her scenes available on YouTube if you’re looking for some inspiration.
The easiest thing to do is have a conversation with your director about what they’re specifically looking for. Directors are not infallible pillars of authenticity, but ultimately they’re responsible for what the actors are doing on stage.
For accents, learn them separately from your lines. Learn your accent so that you can read the newspaper in it. It’s good to listen to native speakers to get a feel for the accent, and these days that’s easier to do with podcasts and social media reels.
But let me add in something that often gets missed when talking about replicating accents: consider your audience. It doesn’t matter how authentic your thick Boston accent is if your Sacramento audience can’t understand a feckin’ thing you say. Recreating an accent for stage or screen is a delicate dance between authenticity and clarity.
The Brits love to criticize Americans for getting their regional accents wrong, but they forget that we’re doing a Welsh accent that Americans can understand which is not always going to be as genuine as the Welsh shopkeeper they see every day.
(And I realize that this is a controversial opinion, but — at the end of the day — we are storytellers above being mimics.)
For memorization, context is key. If you’re in a conversation with another character, you really need to draw a map of the whole conversation in your head, so that you don’t just say your line because it’s next, but because it’s a response to what the other person said.
This is also why I try to learn my lines free from emotional context as well. If I memorized my line to be delivered angrily, but my scene partner says their line in a non-antagonistic way, my angry delivery will appear to come out of nowhere and not fit the scene.
For monologues, I break them down into sections and pull out my colored pencils. I shade the first section in red, the second in orange, the third in yellow, etc. (It’s the colors of the rainbow: ROYGBIV.)
So I only have to remember a section at a time. I’m doing the “red” part of my monologue now, so that’s all I have to be thinking about at the moment, and I know that the “orange” part is next, but I don’t have to know that until I finish all of the “red.” This also aids with the performance, because most monologues are not the character delivering a prepared speech. They are thinking out loud.
Hamlet doesn’t know he’s going to be talking about “the grunt and sweat of a weary life” when he says “To be or not to be.” It just comes to him in his stream-of-consciousness musings. It “unfolds” in the process of the speech and memorizing your monologue as a “list” allows you to let it come out organically.
I learn one line at a time and build up until I have them all memorized. Then I use a tape recorder to play the cue lines of other characters because I tend to have a photographic memory and memorize the timing, too. So, I tend to pause for page turns, lol. But, a tape recorder helps to get rid of those memory pauses. I'll go for walks with the tape recorder to make good use of my spare time while getting exercise.
Here's my tip for learning any accent: FIND PODCASTS WITH NATIVE SPEAKERS. Preferably find at least one that you also genuinely like. Then: listen to them all the time. Stop and start. Try to replicate the sounds they're making. You want complete immersion, so that you're not just listening to way they're forming sounds and words, but also the cadence and rhythm of the way they speak. Don't listen to some other actor's attempts at the accent. Go to the source and submerge yourself.
The Line Learner app helps with learning lines. (If $4 is too much, then try Script Rehearser, which is free.) I don't have any suggestions for accents, other than listening to native speakers of the accent you are aiming for.
The free trial of script reherser pro will let you voice act the whole play (you get a month to record but once you've got the file that's it, you don't lose playback on the free version). If others in the production have the pro version you can ask them for their audio file as well, playback isn't restricted just recording.
Memorization is really about repetition. Read your lines (and CUES) to the point where you only have to glance at the script, then you have to work at taking the next step.
Here are several recordings of native speakers in the Caribbean. (I think one of the Jamaican ones might work best.) [https://www.dialectsarchive.com/caribbean](https://www.dialectsarchive.com/caribbean) Pick one you like and mimic it. And remember: the single most important thing is to be understood by the audience.
The interesting thing about Tituba is that historians actually don’t know much about her. There are a lot of clips of her scenes available on YouTube if you’re looking for some inspiration. The easiest thing to do is have a conversation with your director about what they’re specifically looking for. Directors are not infallible pillars of authenticity, but ultimately they’re responsible for what the actors are doing on stage.
If anyone wants to know, I’m playing tituba in the crucible
For accents, learn them separately from your lines. Learn your accent so that you can read the newspaper in it. It’s good to listen to native speakers to get a feel for the accent, and these days that’s easier to do with podcasts and social media reels. But let me add in something that often gets missed when talking about replicating accents: consider your audience. It doesn’t matter how authentic your thick Boston accent is if your Sacramento audience can’t understand a feckin’ thing you say. Recreating an accent for stage or screen is a delicate dance between authenticity and clarity. The Brits love to criticize Americans for getting their regional accents wrong, but they forget that we’re doing a Welsh accent that Americans can understand which is not always going to be as genuine as the Welsh shopkeeper they see every day. (And I realize that this is a controversial opinion, but — at the end of the day — we are storytellers above being mimics.) For memorization, context is key. If you’re in a conversation with another character, you really need to draw a map of the whole conversation in your head, so that you don’t just say your line because it’s next, but because it’s a response to what the other person said. This is also why I try to learn my lines free from emotional context as well. If I memorized my line to be delivered angrily, but my scene partner says their line in a non-antagonistic way, my angry delivery will appear to come out of nowhere and not fit the scene. For monologues, I break them down into sections and pull out my colored pencils. I shade the first section in red, the second in orange, the third in yellow, etc. (It’s the colors of the rainbow: ROYGBIV.) So I only have to remember a section at a time. I’m doing the “red” part of my monologue now, so that’s all I have to be thinking about at the moment, and I know that the “orange” part is next, but I don’t have to know that until I finish all of the “red.” This also aids with the performance, because most monologues are not the character delivering a prepared speech. They are thinking out loud. Hamlet doesn’t know he’s going to be talking about “the grunt and sweat of a weary life” when he says “To be or not to be.” It just comes to him in his stream-of-consciousness musings. It “unfolds” in the process of the speech and memorizing your monologue as a “list” allows you to let it come out organically.
I learn one line at a time and build up until I have them all memorized. Then I use a tape recorder to play the cue lines of other characters because I tend to have a photographic memory and memorize the timing, too. So, I tend to pause for page turns, lol. But, a tape recorder helps to get rid of those memory pauses. I'll go for walks with the tape recorder to make good use of my spare time while getting exercise.
Watch The Little Mermaid and try to mimic Sebastian. That will get your mouth used to the different shapes/sounds!