"Rules"?

I'm going to try to take another running stab at explaining my opinions on "rules" in Shakespeare. Note, this is just how I feel, take it for what it's worth.

Here's my thing-- I believe in my heart that all that each of us has is a bag of tricks. Some tricks are old, and most people carry them in their bag; some tricks are newer or more controversial, so not everyone puts them in their bag. And when we get together, sometimes we swap tricks -- "Have you heard about rising iambic?!"-- and sometimes we defend our tricks and why we carry them and how important they are. And sometimes we get all high and mighty and insist our tricks are the best, and sometimes some of us go so far as to insist that this particular bag of tricks is "the only way to do Shakespeare". As John Barton said, "That way madness lies."

So far I haven't mentioned "rules" because there aren't any rules about what tricks to put in your bag.(Unless you face a dramaturg or director or teacher who insists on one, in which case using that trick is a "house rule" for that show or class.) Hell, you could have an empty bag and go out there and wing it like Laurence Fishburn did in Othello. (He reportedly hadn't even read Shakespeare once before being cast.)

But if I open my bag and take out a trick to use, that trick has its own internal rules. In order to do the "two operatives per line" trick, I must follow the rules and ONLY pick two operatives per line. Even if I try really hard, I will probably still have one or two lines that have three. But hey, I wouldn't have gotten that far if I hadn't followed the rules the best I could, only breaking it when I absolutely had to. The same goes for an older trick like not breaking a metered line. There is no rule you have to use that trick, but if you do, the rules are that you can't breathe or pause except at the end of the metered line, and you can only stop at a full stop. Using that trick by following those rules may open you up to new ideas about the speech, but the trick doesn't work unless you really, really do it and try to follow the rules. Whatever the trick is, it's not what you are naturally doing on your own, that's why it's a trick. So you have to treat the rules with respect, otherwise you are going to fall into your previous habits. But there are no rules about which tricks to use (except house rules) and anyone who says otherwise is headed for madness, as Barton says.

And one more thing about the "tricks"-- you might try them once just to see what you get out of it, what you learn about your character, and then decide to ditch the trick, keeping only your new insight. Or keep it but break the rules in certain spots when you know what you're doing and why. Since there's no "rules" about tricks, you can use them however you want.

Thoughts?

Edit: The next morning...

I have a dream, a hope, a quest... to find a way to teach / explain / converse with people about scansion which gives the framework of the metaphorical "house" and yet lets you decorate and remodel it to your own unique self. 

I have never heard conversations or read teachings yet that doesn't devolve into an argument over the validity of one trick or take one step forward and one step back, saying, "this is how you do it... except for the fact there are no rules..." The John Barton book Playing Shakespeare does that. Barton can't get one statement out before all the big brains in the room get to arguin' about it. It's really confusing for people who are just starting out-- they hear there is a useful tool out there but when they try to take a class or look it up, all they see are highly technical arguing. 

So this is why I dream of finding a way to reframe the issue to sidestep all the debate. Not that the debate is bad-- I love the part where we all pull out our bags of tricks and start swapping and debating them. This is why God invented bars, imo. :) 

But the thing is, I don't think you can fully participate in that fun until you have a certain level of knowledge about the subject-- until you learn how scansion works and have tried it out yourself-- until you have gotten your own metaphorical bag and started to put tricks into it. And that means that someone has to explain it. And the explanation can't be a debate, because that's too confusing. And so I keep feeling around in the dark to find a way to frame this such that the debate can wait for later, when the actor is more comfortable and knowledgeable. Then he or she can pull up a bar stool and join the fun!!!

Thoughts?