Masks

What does one think when it comes to masks? Many things. Venice, carnivals, Commedia dell' Arte, but also rituals, Halloween and superheroes. Masks have different functions and different shapes, the most elementary thing being that they cover your face. One may think you can hide behind a mask, then. Well, it all depends. The masks which really cover who you are, are those you wear all day long. But when it comes to commedia masks, things are different. We had the pleasure to discover them during a two-day workshop at RADA, lead by Clara McBride.
One of the most important thing to know about masks, she explained, is that they are naïve. They discover the world and the things around them step by step. They are curious, so you must be curious when you wear a mask, that is to say you have to react, not to act, before an audience. Improvisation is the essence of masks. But because masks are so particular, you cannot just put one on and improvise. The mask is actually the one who discovers and plays on stage. Thus we explored masks' naïveté through different exercises.
We started with paper masks. We made them ourselves, then looked at them and put them on. We were blind on stage, and the only things we were aware of were our masks' appearence and Clara's voice. We thus started to understand what she meant when she said that the mask leads you on stage, that you have to become the mask and to feed him with your instinct and your imagination. It was essential for us to know that before we worked with proper masks. To introduce the latter, Clara emphazised the process. We first picked up a mask, then looked at it for a while, put it on, and found a mouth. The voice came a few seconds later, when we discovered ourselves in a mirror. At this point we began to lose ourselves into masks.
It is a very powerful experience indeed. When you are on stage with a mask you do not think anymore, otherwise you act, and the mask is lost. You have to wait for something to happen, so you can react. But it makes you feel incredibly vulnerable as well, because you are not only waiting for something to happen on stage, but also for something to happen to you. When the magic happens, you are not yourself anymore indeed. You become the mask. And the most disappointing thing for the audience is to see you coming back and the mask disappearing behind your own features. When it happens, the mask loses its meaning; from a two-dimensional character it becomes an object, mute and indifferent. It makes it difficult to write about masks though, because taking it off is like waking up, you cannot explain what just happened; only remains a memory as fragmented and fleeting as a dream.
The mask workshop has been a wonderful experience for all of us. We had the opportunity to discover the stage under a new angle, as a unknown space full of surprises and always moving from one sense to another. Because with masks it seems that the form makes the content, as the mask makes the performer. But beyond all these theoretical ideas, behind the papier mâché and the painting, there are more colours, more images, and magic which reveals the power and the specificity of each type or archetype. Because one mask also changes with the performer. A great dynamics is created then, a secret exchange between an image and an imagination. As results, smiles and bursts of laughter.

Thank you, Clara.

Pauline Peyrade