MICHAEL WOLF
The Wolf's Maze
Memory Technique
After a certain incident involving some poetry, unstable Marble and two demigods, Simonedes of Ceos creates his famous Method of Loci (the Memory Palace). A few thousand years later due to a different incident involving counting cards at a certain gambling place Michael Wolf lays the foundations of his Wolf’s Maze Memory Technique.
Although heavily influenced by the Method of Loci, The Wolf’s Maze Memory technique is specifically adapted to learning plays, screenplays and monologues to aid the actors in their fast-paced scene and script memorisation. During his third year of university, he develops it as his dissertation and refines it within his classmates and volunteers.
At this time, after teaching it at a few Academies, Universities, Colleges and Guilds internationally, the technique has proven to shorten exponentially the script learning process for many actors (on average from a week and a half to just a few hours.)
Michael is always looking for institutions and individuals who are looking to expand their toolbox of techniques and is offering to tutor and lecture interested parties. Below is the breakdown of the week-long workshop, and further down some thoughts from a few of the satisfied institutions and actors.
Workshop Breakdown
Day 1
-How our brain works (memory)
-Different type of memory and memorisation
-History and relevance of the Memory Palace technique (Method of Loci)
-How and why this works scientifically
-Choosing to remember and Choosing to forget (The mental Library)
-Modern day examples
-The 4 types of locations
-The 7 types of associations
-Numerological associations
-Building our first palace
Day 2
-Introducing locations catalogue
-Introducing Palace Thesaurus
-First part of the lecture - "Two bees or not Two bees" - working on a monologue as a group
-Second part of the lecture - Working on independent monologues with guidance
Day 3
-Introducing Complex associations
-Introducing on reconstructing (and building on top of) Associations
-Expanding the Palace Thesaurus
-First part of the lecture - "I don't know you/I think I do" - working on a scene as a group
-Second part of the lecture - Working on independent scenes with guidance
Day 4
-Other uses of the Memory Palace method (aka: giving meaning to the meaningless)
shopping lists, week's planning, names, numbers etc.
-Introducing the Orange Method/the Pairing Method/Donald Duck's method
-Difference between Memory and Mind Palace (and how to build one)
-The Shakespearean Palace - tackling verse with the Memory Palace technique
-Working on verse scenes and/or monologues with the technique
Day 5
-Efficiency and practice when using the technique
-"Learning a Play in a Day" - depending on the needs/wish of the group we either select a group of people confident enough with the technique (4-6 people) and give them a play they have to memorise in a few hours, while everyone else works on a role from that play individually and then we have a showing, OR everyone learns a secondary character from a whole play and we have a showing
-Final Q&A clearing any remaining confusions about the technique
Testimonials
"During the week-long workshop the students managed to walk the path from training to practice with complete success. During the last day of the workshop they managed to memorise half a play in just two hours – something that, as all the students admit, is a first for their careers. What’s more is that in addition to that, they were still able to recall with precision, word for word, the various exercises, monologues and dialogues, they had amassed over the previous two days.
Overall we can say with certainty that this is one of, and most likely the best script memorisation techniques out there and every actor should be lucky to acquaint themselves with it."
Union of Bulgarian Actors
“I used The Wolf’s Maze Memory Technique for my Shakespeare project (Twelfth Night) and I would like to develop it further in the future. The way I am seeing it currently, is that it is a short cut to the same conclusion – memorising the lines. I learned the script quicker than many of my classmates and that I learned it in such detail. I get a deeper understanding with this technique and it gets in my body quicker than with repletion so it is definitely something I’d like to continue using for future projects. “
Mac Howard – Actor
“After having utilised The Wolf's Maze Memory Technique to learn my lines for my last production (Welcome to Thebes) I can conclude that it makes the line learning process significantly more efficient for me. I was able to learn a scene of reasonable length in twenty minutes and be comfortable performing it without a script afterwards. I was off-book before anyone else in my cast and this allowed me more freedom to play without a script in hand. Overall, it is a very effective technique if you are able to connect with the imagery. It also minimises paraphrasing. I will definitely use this technique in the future.”
Ane Skarvoy – Actress
"Michael’s Wolf Maze Memory Technique sessions have yielded memory results that no-one thought possible. I didn’t. I’ve now read and heard of countless testimonials that have convinced me that I was wrong. An astonishing technique."
Sir Mark Featherstone-Witty OBE
For any enquiries, questions and bookings please contact Michael at michaelwolfactor@gmail.com
