–Is there an echo in here?

The Book
I think the book, condensed as it is, mirrors the results of Brook’s evolution. He’s crystallized; and in much the same way, he talks about Shakespeare’s density. The danger in so short a treatise is that he’s SO precise and SO right.He makes it sound so clear it seems simple.

I think it’s important to remember that He’s been able to ‘forget’ Shakespeare because he spent so much time up to his neck in the work. (interesting that he almost seems to forget that a brilliant condensed analysis such as his own certainly has its roots–something must be known in order to have anything to ‘forget’).

This is sort of akin to a pro golfer who finds himself in the zone and hits every shot perfectly. He’s not thinking about technique–that would ruin everything. But certainly the ability to strike the ball with such unerring precision, over and over and again, has a little to do with the thousands upon thousands of golf balls he’s hit while analyzing and thinking very hard about his technique.–Just a little sweat might have been involved somewhere along the line.

I got into a back and forth a while back on another website over just exactly what HE (Brook) was evoking from his own experience.
It could be taken (as indeed it was in the case I mention),and mistakenly I believe, that Brooke’s saying that no one needs to really ’study’ Shakespeare at all–just turn on the tape. But Brook can only do that, because he’s already done the rest.

Just as the golfer obeys the rules of physics, inertia, and motion–applied to the technique learned in mastering the swing–so too are there “rules’ ( I prefer a different term–perhaps “guidelines”) that have to do with understanding what the heck kind of tools Will was using to express his genius. And, how he learned the Wordies so well, that he was able to Break the Rules with impunity in yet another expression of his genius.

Any good teacher will encourage the progressing student to “…forget about the rules–now just do it”.
In fact, Our Bard Blog Host has had many good and accurate things to say on the subject of these so-called “guidelines”.

I’m afraid I’ve worked with far too many actors who think they can just “be” Hamlet, so to speak. But the Mystery Brook speaks of has nothing to do with tapping into some kind of ethereal sense and ‘forgetting’ everything else–before we’ve taken the time to learn what “everything else”…Is. (really mangled syntax–I just broke a rule).Let me break another:this ain’t ‘Caddy Shack’. Ooooh, that felt good.

I believe Brook’s gems of genius have much more to do with “Remembering to Forget” what we already KNOW.