"Actors can look at a script and as they read it they hear the voice of the character and are able to give the words feeling and depth."

I'm going to transform the merrygoround into the Ghost Train ...

When I was involved in Theatre, the stage manager contacted me at work and said, "The lead actor can' be here tonight, I don't want to cancel, can you read it?" I'm not excellent actor, but do 'know the ropes' in theatre and although I have a nightmare getting words down rapidly, with the words, it's MUCH easier.... :-)

'Reading' is when someone who has not been involved as an actor in a production steps in at the last minute. He/she carries the script, because it cannot be expected to get the words in a short time, but the audience is informed beforehand. Most theatre goers would not DREAM of asking for their money back, as this is a wonderful insight into live theatre, and watching how the 'sucker' handles things is enlightening anyway. I know of one case where the lead had a heart attack on stage (he recovered and lived many years) during act 1 - someone from the audience stepped in and read the show, and took over the role for the rest of the run, reading for a few nights till he got the words off.

Now, as you said, 'reading' allows full expression of other things not on the page. As the lighting and sound expert of the group, I had watched a few rehearsals and read the play to 'do' the lighting (another skill, but that's a long story itself how one does that). I asked for the cast to 'give me a walkthru' to get the stage positions of each of the other actors relative to me. Some of the actors who had never done this trick before were not all that cooperative, but I got my walkthru.

On the night, it is not immodest to say that I stole the show - wasn't hard, was a style of comedy that I loved, and they were not really all that experienced theatre or comedy people, anyway. BTW, that guy never 'called in sick' again ... :-)

The script is like 'the dots' in music. One CAN remember it, but I like the quote by Sean Connery in a Indiana Jones movie

"I wrote it down so I WOULDN'T HAVE TO remember it!"