forgetting lines
Going up onstage
Forgetting lines is the experience of blanking on memorized text during a performance or presentation.
Actors dread forgetting lines onstage; speakers fear it at the podium.
The phrase captures both the moment of mental vacancy and the broader anxiety around it: She kept forgetting lines during rehearsal.
A prompter or teleprompter exists precisely for this possibility.
- blankingErasing or forgetting
- drawing a blankUnable to remember
- flubbingMaking careless errors
- stumblingWalking clumsily, almost falling
- dry upLose moisture completely
stage fright · prompter · cue · rehearsal · blocking · script · memorization · improvising · ad-libbing · in the moment · freeze · panic · blackout · understudy · teleprompter · monologue · audition · nervous
- presentation mistakesstage fright, nervousness, rushing, mumbling, monotone voice
- social blundersgaffe, faux pas, misstep, blooper, flub
forgetting, lines, forget, forgets, forgot, forgotten, forgetful, forgetfulness, forgetfully