Keep practicing, like HoD says. The more you just go through it, the more you can rely on sheer subconscious brain patterning to help you through. There’ve definitely been times where I’ve been singing something and I am so nervous that I have no idea what I’m singing consciously but my lips are just used to moving in that particular sequence and so they keep going…
If you can practice in front of someone, anyone, it might help.
The other thing I’ve found very useful is to try to get into the persona of the person you’re acting as much as possible. Think to yourself, “I’m character X, and character X is thinking that she’s hungry and angry at her sister…” or whatever character X is thinking. Then I can use the nervousness and tension to help act it out rather than to think about how many people are in the audience.
Think for a minute about how you feel when you’re nervous.
Are you shaking a little?
Does your stomach feel like it’s full of jumping frogs?
Does your heart start racing?
Are you breathing quickly?
Do you feel like you want to jump up and down a few times?
Now…think for a minute about how you feel when you’re really excited about something.
Are you shaking a little?
Does your stomach feel like it’s full of jumping frogs?
Does your heart start racing?
Are you breathing quickly?
Do you feel like you want to jump up and down a few times?
You’re going to feel what you feel because of adrenaline whacking away at your nervous system. That’s fine, and there’s nothing you can do about it, and you really oughtn’t try, anyhow. Just decide how you want to code it. Are you nervous or are you excited? Your choice. They feel the same.
And then go out and use that energy on the stage. You’re going to be fine.
When I was in uni, I read that once you read something three times through, you pretty much had it memorized without even trying. So whether it was for a test or the lines in the very few turns I made on the stage, I would read through my notes or lines three times without even trying to pay attention. Then just for good measure, I read through two more times while consciously focusing on facts, and I found that by that fourth or fifth time, I really did have it pretty much nailed.