Free mode · Guide

Make the most of the free mode

Five concrete tips to get started with Mastering Theatre, format your text correctly and rehearse today — no subscription required.

The free mode, plainly

What works, what's reserved for paid plans. No spin.

✓ Included in the free version

  • Step-by-step mode (you validate each line)
  • Memorization (1 level)
  • Import via copy-paste or PDF / TXT file
  • Built-in example in the app language
  • Native Android / iOS system voice for the partner
  • Choice of role and character to play

× Reserved for Pro or Premium

  • HD cloud voices (more natural than the system voice)
  • Fluid mode (auto-validation on silence), loop, prompter
  • Direction AI, diction AI, coaching AI, paraphrase
  • OCR (script photo → text)
  • Automatic cleanup of imported text
  • Annotations, PDF export, AI-generated scenes
  • Job interviews, shows
3favorites max 10sessions max 3history slots 1memo level
1Tip #1

Text formatting — the critical point

The app automatically recognizes characters and their lines, but only if the text follows a simple format. Here are the three errors that prevent import from working.

🔡

Character name not in UPPERCASE

Character names must be in UPPERCASE (accents, hyphens, spaces allowed). "ALICE:" works, "Alice:" does not.

No colon between name and line

The separator is : (colon). A dash, a period, or nothing at all will not work.

🎭

Stage directions between lines

"(exits)", "(aside)", "(silence)" and stage directions must be removed. The app would treat them as lines.

✗ Does not work
Act 1, scene 2.
Alice (entering): You can't
keep going like this, Victor.
It's been three weeks.
Victor.— I'm not avoiding anything.
(silence)
Alice — Really?
✓ Recognized format
ACT I
SCENE 2
ALICE: You can't keep going like this, Victor. It's been three weeks.
VICTOR: I'm not avoiding anything.
ALICE: Really?

Format cheat sheet

  • Each line on a single line starting with NAME: line text.
  • Character name in UPPERCASE (accents OK: ÉMILE, MARY-JANE, DON JUAN).
  • Optional sections on their own line: ACT I, SCENE 1, SCENE 2
  • No stage directions, no page numbers, no footnotes.
  • If a character appears under several spellings ("The King", "KING"), unify to a single form.
2Tip #2

Let an external AI format it for you

Rather than rewriting everything by hand, copy the prompt below into a free conversational AI, paste your text at the end, and get back a clean script ready to paste into the app.

💬 ChatGPT Gemini 🟣 Claude 🔍 Le Chat (Mistral)
Prompt to copy
You are an assistant that reformats theatre scene texts so they can be read by a rehearsal application. REQUIRED OUTPUT FORMAT (nothing else): CHARACTER: Character's line on a single line. OTHER CHARACTER: Their reply, also on a single line. STRICT RULES: 1. Each line begins with the CHARACTER NAME in UPPERCASE, followed by " : " (colon with or without surrounding spaces), then the line text. 2. The character name is between 1 and 30 characters. Accents allowed (ÉMILE, MARY-JANE, DON JUAN). Apostrophes, hyphens, periods and spaces allowed within the name. 3. ONE line = ONE single line. If the original line spans multiple lines in the source text, merge them into a single line separated by spaces. Never split a line in two. 4. No empty lines between lines. 5. If the text contains structural markers, keep them on their own line, in UPPERCASE: - ACT I, ACT II, ACT III… - SCENE 1, SCENE 2… 6. Remove all stage directions (acting cues in parentheses or italics: "(aside)", "(exits)", "(silence)"…), page numbers, line numbers, footnotes, headers and footers, author names, work titles. 7. NEVER rephrase the text. Do not translate. Do not correct spelling. Keep the original punctuation, quotation marks, dashes, apostrophes. 8. If a character appears under several spellings (e.g. "THE KING", "KING", "The King"), unify everything to a single UPPERCASE form (e.g. THE KING). 9. If you cannot identify who is speaking for a passage, ignore it. Do not guess. 10. Your response contains ONLY the reformatted text. No introduction, no explanation, no comment, no Markdown code block. INPUT EXAMPLE: Act one, scene two. Don Juan (entering): Well, Sganarelle, what do you have to say? SGANARELLE.— Sir, what I have to say is that… (he hesitates) DON JUAN.— Speak then! OUTPUT EXAMPLE: ACT I SCENE 2 DON JUAN: Well, Sganarelle, what do you have to say? SGANARELLE: Sir, what I have to say is that… DON JUAN: Speak then! Here is the text to reformat: [PASTE YOUR SCENE TEXT HERE]

Once you get the result from the AI, copy it and paste it into the "Import" screen of the app via the 📋 button.

3Tip #3

Importing from a PDF

PDF file import is available in the free version. But not all PDFs are equal.

✓ PDF with selectable text

If you can select and copy text in the PDF with your mouse, import works directly. This is the case for PDFs generated from Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs, or exported from a website.

Tip: before importing, open the PDF and try to select a sentence. If you can, the app can too.

× Scanned PDF (image)

If the PDF is a scan or a photo (the text is actually an image), you need optical character recognition (OCR). OCR is reserved for the Pro plan.

Free workaround: take a photo of one page of your script, open ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude in your browser, attach the image and ask "Faithfully transcribe the text in this image". Get the text back, then apply tip #2 to format it. Longer, but 100% free.

4Tip #4

Memorization, free mode's champion

The Memorization mode is fully available in the free version. It's probably the best use of the free plan.

How it works

After importing your scene, launch the Memorization mode instead of theatre mode. The app progressively hides the words of your lines to help you memorize the text.

In the free version you have 1 difficulty level (Pro and Premium offer 3 progressive levels). It's largely enough to learn a monologue, a short scene or a poem by heart.

No AI is called, no cloud voice, no credits: memorization mode works entirely locally on your phone.

5Tip #5

Partner voice — particular use

Read carefully: the partner voice in free mode has an asymmetric usefulness.

What you can do in the free version

You can record your own voice playing the lines of a character, and share that recording with a rehearsal partner.

But you cannot use it to rehearse yourself in the app: playback of a voice pack during a rehearsal is reserved for Pro and Premium plans.

The typical use: you record your lines to give the cue to a partner who rehearses on their side with your voice in their app (if they are on Pro or Premium). Useful in duos, less useful solo.

If you rehearse alone with the free version, don't waste time recording a voice pack — your app will use the native Android or iOS system voice for the partner.

Going further

If the free version suits you, great. If you want to unlock HD voices, advanced modes and AI, here's what paid plans add.

Feature
Free
Pro · €2.99
Premium · €4.99
Step-by-step mode
Memorization
1 level
3 levels
3 levels
HD cloud voices
×
Fluid and loop modes
×
OCR photo → text
×
Direction, diction, coaching AI
×
AI-generated scene creation
×
Job interviews AI, shows
×
×
Favorites / sessions
3 / 10
∞ / 50
∞ / 100