‘His mind and hand went together, said Hemings and Condell of the speed of Shakespeare. But the conceptual language of literary criticism, be it moralistic or political, has long been too slow to be properly responsive to Shakespeare’s meaning. With the help of both Renaissance philosophers and present-day actors, Sudden Shakespeare seeks to locate the underlying secrets of Shakespeare’s dynamic power- It offers a technical language which, close to Shakespeare’s own, is capable of responding suddenly to the speed, transforming shape, and power of Shakespeare’s way of thinking as it comes into meaning.