FOREWORD
This book is dedicated to the face and the body.
The emotions and expressions in the human face
and body are like a poem
we always carry with us.
‘Physical poetry’ is a term I contemplated for
some time; it expresses my fascination for the human body as sculpture in motion (a a drawing in space). Physical poetry is also what
gives shape to Walking Faces, my mime
performance theater collective since 2002. I have borrowed the name from
Kenneth Patchen, a poet who painted faces in both images and text. In mime and
dance I wish to let the body speak like emotions on a face.
When I was looking for a title for the
research on masks I considered ‘A mask reveals’ and ‘We wear the face that
suits’. Veiling and unveiling is a key point in emotion expression, and physical
theater, and a mask can do both! Archetypes - masks, gestures, spine also gives
away my strong fascination for physical theater and mask performance.
The face and
the body are like a landscape, in which the backbone is the body's keyboard for
expression. Face , body and backbone are in continu flux in order to express
themselves And just like this research, it is not
finite.
Sjoerd Schwibettus, September 2019
CREDITS
AUTHOR AND LEADING
RESEARCH: Sjoerd Schwibettus
RESEARCH, contributions in research and writing from Datus
Voorhorst, Frans Krom, and Emmy Chau.
DESIGNS and MAKING OF EMOTION
MASKS: contributions from Emmy Chau, Kjell Weewer,
Datus Voorhorst,
LAY OUT: Serena Kloet for her work on the graphic design,
DRAWINGS: Emmy Chau, EDITING: Emmy Chau, Rob Stoeckart
TRANSLATION in ENGLISH: Charlottte Bakker, with help of Thomas Viele
THANKS TO: feedback on background and thesis on Brecht from Inès
Sauer; Maarten Lammers who facilitated and promoted the MasksMovedproject
within ArtEZ (University of Arts, Arnhem), dr. Harry von Piekartz for his
cooperation and joint research on emotion in face and body expressions,
THANKS TO: all
participating students of the ArtEZ theater faculty Arnhem, students of
Osnabruck, University of Applied Sciences, Physiotherapy department.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
INTRODUCTION AND
STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH STORY
The first book MASKS MOVED originates
from the publication 'Maskers Bewogen', a publication in Dutch of a research
into emotion expressions and masks for
physical theater.(October 2015)
The writings from the first research are revised
and renewed, and translated into English. All the extended data from testing
have been summarized.
The second book
ARCHETYPES, gestures, masks, spine is a further research on whole body
expressions. It changes the perspective from
the face to the whole-body and postural expressions and explains the spine as
the keyboards of the body.
The new chapters give a complete sense of what is
all related to expressions of face and body in science and the arts. Yes,
science and the arts! They are both closely related and they cross pollunate
here: the research involved both medical science (anatomy, physiotherapy,
neurology) and the arts. My goal here is to connect and to give a full wide
perspective on the subject.
I've designed the chapter division and the narrative along a
dramaturgical structure of the aristotelian theater story. This is partly odd,
since I am myself a post modern mime theater teacher and performer. One would
expect a different structure according to the Semantics: all the tokens or
signs have their own autonomous meaning and there is only a story when the
audience makes it herself.
But then the nature and context of the subject
and the research quest are in line with an Aristotelian narrative: after all,
it concerns a research into emotion expressions, masks for physical theater,
into postural expressions and the physical act(gestus) and corporeal mime, and that leads us back into history.
Put back in the tradition of our oldest theater
in the West, we end up with the Greek tragedy. The mask has been known since
the time of Aeschylus in the sixth century AD as one of the characteristics of
classical Greek theater. Masks were also used in worshiping Dionysos, and this
is probably how it began as a tradition. Aristotle (388-322 BC) exposed the
structure of the Greek drama in his Poetica: tragedy and comedy were said to
trigger a catharsis through the incidents that evoke emotion. This framework is
still an important issue in present-day narratives and drama.
The concluding chapters in
this book lead back to the origin of the physical theater and the mask: the
Greek Tragedy and Comedy, Ancient Roman Atelian Comedy, the Commedia dell'arte,
and the founders and innovators of the new theater in the previous 2 centuries
to the present.
How modern mime and modern physical theater
manifest themselves in this 'postmodern' era, I place explicitly in the
analysis of the mime theater of Etienne Decroux. The exercises, the viewpoints,
the transformation: they have been part of the application of the new family of
emotion masks.
The new emotion masks are really from this
'facetagging' and new media time and can easily be embedded in the underlying
history of Greek theater up to and including Commedia dell'arte and
Stanislavski and Brecht. The insight and turning points in the research
gradually brought this to light.
EXPLANATION OF THE REFERRED TERMS IN ARISTOTELIAN STRUCTURE
'Tragedy' and 'comedy' are a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences. It refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in
the self-definition of Western civilization.
'Plot' (intrigue) - The sequence of the series of
events in the story is the plot. In our quest or research we wanted to design
masks for theater play based on the 21 universal expressions of emotion. The
series of events are the design of 3 series of masks, putting them to the test
and the discovery of what an emotion expression really is and how the tradition
of physical theatre plays a part in it.
'Triadic structure' is, as the name suggests, a structure consisting of three parts.
It simply means that a story must have a
beginning, middle and end. In the Aristotelian story structure this can be
found in 3 acts and seven phases can be distinguished.
'Anagnorisis' refers to a moment when a character discovers an important piece of
information. It is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a
critical discovery and it acompanies the reversal of the situation in the plot,
the peripeteia. It is powerful in that it can bring about a
"peripety" that brings about a sudden turn of events.
'Peripeteia' is a reversal of circumstances, or
turning point; a change by which the action veers round to its opposite,
subject always to our rule of probability or necessity. The (re) discovery of the archetype when playing
and applying the latest series of masks is such a turning point.
'Hamartia' is often referred to as tragic flaw and has many examples
throughout literature, especially in Greek tragedy. We can define the tragic flaw of Oedipus that he was hasty in temper; of Macbeth that
he was ambitious; of Othello that he was proud and jealous. It also states that the character is "missing the
mark." Harmartia is described as causing problems where they were not
intended or expected. Harmatia is harm......committed in ignorance. So where do we find the tragic flaw in our story?
Or is the tragic flaw mainly in the emotion mask itself?
'Deux ex machina' - “God from the machine" is a plot device in which a person or
thing appears "out of the blue" to help a character to overcome a
seemingly insolvable difficulty. The divine out of the blue intervention can be seen in this story in the
sudden recollection of images in recordings of mime actor Jan Bronk: an enormous
history of the mask and face and mime theater emerged: the neutral
mask of Jacques LeCoq and the piece of fabric covering device from Etienne
Decroux and also the Commedia dell'arte masks and masks from designers Sartori.
In fact, my entire education and mime theater world came to my aid! It helped
us with a better understanding to design the emotion mask. The revelation of
the mimetheater, how the mask is connected to the physical act and how it works on stage gave the design the defined
perspective it needed.
'Catharsis': The word means
“purging,” and Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor—tragedy (and
comedy but then with laughter and joy) arouses the emotions of pity and fear in
order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a healthy,
balanced proportion.
Here it shows what insight arises from this
search for emotion masks
The discovery of the emotion masks in present-day
science and theater research, leads us to a historical line and gives us a view
on it through its various perspectives.
It is up to the reader to become convinced and to
view this theater art expression of today's mask theater play in a new light.
- Act 1 - the function of the first act is the exhibition:the protagonist, the antagonist and all other characters are introduced in the exhibition. The purpose of the protagonist also becomes clear, which starts the plot.
The protagonist here is the
search itself. The members of the research group are supporting characters. The antagonists are the difficulties in achieving the effective design of
the emotion masks and getting the other related
subjects from both science and the arts on board like the whole-body
expressions, exercises and realtionships.
In the 'Exposition': plot, context and
circumstances are laid out: what is going on and especially how
all the different subjects relate to eachother. The 'incentive moment': (incitation) is the end of the introduction and where the story begins with the first idea to create emotion masks for the theater and to form a research group for design.
- Act 2 - The second act consists of different episodes and
contains the intrigue. This is the development phase in which most of the
plot's events occur. In this part the
obstacles are thrown by the difficulties (antagonists) and overcome by the research (protagonist). The
'Plot' - develops in: 'rising
action' leading to the insights
caused by 'Deux ex machina' (a plot
device 'out of the blue' insights and givens), 'Hamartia' (tragic flaw) crises and results in the 'climax'.
- Act 3 - The third act is the combination of the resolution, the 'peripeteia' (reversal or turning point) and the epilogue and forms the 'denouement' (decomposition) of the plot, which indicates the end. The action is accelerated in 'hamartia'(tragic flaw), resulting in a 'climax'. In the classical form, the climax is the ultimate confrontation between protagonist and antagonist. Depending on the tragedy or the story, the protagonist will triumph and reach his goal or crash into failure. This completes the plot partly, since i put an new continuation episode to complete the whole story. With the epilogues we go back into the history where it all started.
CONTENT – CHAPTERS
·
Forword, credits.
·
Accountability and introducing structure of the
research story tale in chapters.
·
Content in HEADINGS- chapters in HEADINGS. Paragraphs with asterix.
ACT ONE -
rising action
1. EXHIBITION: De
protagonist is hier de zoektocht zelf. De onderzoeksgroepleden zijn
ondersteunende personages.
2. INCENTIVE MOMENT ( inciting incident): The trigger for the research was a newspaper article headlining
Human Faces can express at least 21 distinct emotions
3. RESEARCH PNAS ARTICLE
4. MASKS SERIES 1 - CLIMAX ACT ONE
ACT TWO - rising action
5. DEUX EX MACHINA: - JAN BRONK,
- STUDY OF THEATER TRADITION: how
did they work before, how was a mask made, Sartori but also Jacques LeCoq and
articulations of expression in face and whole body.
6. 21 EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION: WHAT IS AN EMOTION? We needed more information and
Ekman, Darwin guided us.
7. FACS AND AUs: Analyse en anatomy: the coordinates and lines in the face, how does it work?
8. MASKS SERIES 2, MIDDLE ACT 2
9. ARCHETYPES
10. MASKS DISPUTE: Feedback and looking into theater tradition, FACS and
AU'S again: what are we missing
11. EXERCISES IN PHYSICAL
THEATER AND MASK PLAY
12. HAMARTIA - TRAGIC FLAW - HOW DOES PHYSICAL PLAY WITH MASKS WORK?
13. MASKS SERIES 3, CLIMAX ACT 3
ACT THREE - falling action
14.
PERIPETEIA (turning
point): - Inzicht in en ontdekking van archetype and
stilering van de vlakken van het gezicht.
15. DENOUEMENT (resolution - decomposition) - WHAT - WHO - WHY - WHEN - WHERE AND PHYSICAL MEMORY: looking back and
analyses on its motives and how it links to physical theater.
16. ARCHETYPES WHOLE BODY EXPRESSIONS- NEW - CONTINUATION OF RESEARCH -
17. ON FACIAL AND POSTURAL EXPRESSIONS, from emotions in the face to expression of the body
18. MIME - ETIENNE DECROUX:
CORPOREAL MIME TECHNIQUE AND ITS PHILOSOPHY
19. EPILOGUE 1: back into theater history: Commedia dell 'Arte - '3planks,2 actors, 1emotion'
20. EPILOGUE 2: back into history of 19e and 20e century theater
reformers. The gestus - the physical act is main focus.
21. BACK INTO HISTORY: the tradition on masks and mask play leads back
to the beginning.
ACT ONE - RISING ACTION
1. EXHIBITION:
HUMAN FACES CAN EXPRESS AT LEAST 21 DISTINCT EMOTIONS
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES HAPPY, SAD, FEARFUL, ANGRY, SURPRISED,
DISGUST?
HUMAN
FACES CAN EXPRESS AT LEAST 21 DISTINCT EMOTIONS
Reading the small article in the newspaper - Human face shows 21 emotions – touched
something profound in me. An April Fool's joke, I thought, because in the
Netherlands it was published on April 1. The article referred to the scientific
publication Compound facial expressions
of emotion* by Shichuan Du, Yong Tao, and Aleix M. Martinez.
http://time.com/43758/human-faces-can-express-at-least-21-distinct-emotions/
IS
THERE ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES HAPPY, SAD, FEARFUL, ANGRY, SURPRISED, DISGUST?
I have been a theater maker, dancer-mime
artist, teacher and I have worked with body language and facial expressions for
years. What did I really know about emotion and its expression? How is body
language involved in this?
Up until that point I could not, when
considering it briefly, come up with more than a few emotions. When I asked
others about it, they could not think of more than 4 or 5 emotions either. A
theater maker should, especially thinking of mask performance and grotesque
clowning, be able to express beyond these few. Thus far I have been a
professional when it comes to physical expression, mask performance, movement
and dance, but what do I really know about emotions? And how can there be so
many (universal!) emotions – expressions of emotions?
So what else is there besides happy, sad,
surprised, fearful, angry and disgusted? Around the turn of the century I
decided that, after years of working as mime actor, producer and teacher, I
wanted to focus on visual art as autonomous discipline. Until then, I thought
of it as a logical and natural discipline any mime player/producer should
include in the mix. What’s different is the autonomous approach. For a year I
made many ceramic heads, expressions. Part of it was therapeutic. There were so
many expressions, so many people in my mind. After over 80 heads I quieted
down. I believe we all carry many expressions, many people around with us. I
think this accumulated memory continuously plays a part in our imagination: we
remember the physical actions that are so strongly linked to everyone’s
expression and emotions as one.
2. INCENTIVE MOMENT -
21 EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION IN MASKS
RESEARCHGROUP
|
21 EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION
I couldn’t wait to try out these 21
expressions of emotion for myself! The newspaper article spawned the first idea
to create emotion mask for the theater. Would these ‘emotion masks’ change the
way for acting and could they have a bigger range compared to other masks? I
shared this idea with several visual and physical theater artists and the
following plan ensued:
- Study, design and creation of emotion masks
for 21 expressions of emotion, based on the 21 described facial expressions and
coded Action Units (AU) according to the system of FACS (Facial Action Coding
System).
- Research of the emotion masks on stage,
through recording, observations and maskplay improvising.
A new series of masks based on the 21
universal emotions could yield a bigger range for training actors and for
physical theater. After all, many more expressions of emotion are suddenly
available because they are distinctive and universally recognizable. They
signify a great palette and nuance because of their combination of internal
differences and struggle. A bigger range could also lead to a greater
stratification in a performance, more nuanced and with increased possibilities
for change and meaning, a larger spectrum of transformation and opposition. It
also brings a fresh view of masks and their physical play, because traditional
mask play is not focused on expression of emotion, but often works with other
approaches through examples and intended imagination.
How can a mask maker capture an expression?
Are the given insights into expressions of emotion like a different technique,
articulation and approach needed for a transcending expression?
How have mask makers, mask performers and
physical theater professionals handled this so far? How are masks made anyway?
Based on insight into emotion and expression, I thought.
Would that not change in light of the current
understanding that there are 21 universally recognizable emotions? The human
artistic effort in portraying dramatic scenes, covering myriad emotions and
situations, did not fail to understand or capture what we now know through the
progress of science; actually it turns
out that artists most of all came closer to reveal and zoom in on those expressions.
RESEARCHGROUP
The search begins in the summer of 2014 with
the formation of a research group:
- Sjoerd Schwibettus/ mime performer, dancer,
visual artist, teaches theater making ArtEZ Art School,
- Datus Voorhorst/ doctor, nuclear physician,
visual artist,
- Kjell Weewer/ visual artist, graphic
designer, chef,
- Emmy Chau/ doctor, anatomy teacher, visual
artist,
- Frans Krom/ theater mask maker, drama teacher
3. PNAS RESEARCH
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - 13 MARCH 2014
UNIVERSAL EMOTION
CHANGEABLE LIKE A WEATHER VANE
IN THE WAITING
ROOM, PERSPECTIVES FROM PHYSICAL THEATER
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - 21 MARCH 2014
The article Human face shows 21 emotions referred to a publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of 13 March 2014. In Compound
facial expressions of emotions Ohio State University researchers determine
there are 21 universally recognizable facial expressions! The question came to
me immediately: could I translate that into a new, big family of masks? Could
those masks add value to mask-physical theater? Could the complex compound
expressions of emotions yield a larger range for physical theater? Could this
approach – of expressions of emotions to masks – mean a new perspective, a
re-evaluation, an improvement on theatrical masks and their physical play?
Starting in April of 2014, I began looking for
the ins and outs of all of this, and composed a research group made up of
people from the world of theater, visual arts, medicine, and mask
professionals. We put the theory to the test in front of a mirror and a video
camera. All described and defined universal expressions of emotion from the
above mentioned PNAS publication were evoked in front of the mirror and we filmed
these expressions successively like a continuously changing flow of emotions,
in one take. I also started digging and reading: Darwin, Paul Ekman, and many
others. The following year, three series of masks were designed based on the
findings of compound facial expressions
of emotions.
For the designs we looked carefully at which
muscle contractions cause changes in the face and how the expression of emotion
in fact took shape, anatomically and from the emotion itself. The designed
series of masks evolved after practical testing on the theater floor. The
question during these tests was also this: which style of expressivity is best
suited to do justice to the masks with their expression of emotion and let
meaning ‘work’ in a transcending way. The masks were each tried out several
times with students of the Theater faculty of ArtEZ school of Arts in Arnhem
(the Netherlands), where I have taught movement techniques, performance, and
theater science since 1977.
CHANGEABLE LIKE A WEATHER VANE
‘He is as changeable as a weather vane’ What a wonderful expression! A capricious person whose mood
constantly changes. Do our emotions change constantly? And how do we express
them? The English language has many ways to capture emotions: everyone has a
few ‘things that make their hair stand on end’, or what about getting
‘goggle-eyed’, ‘tongue-tied’ or ‘goose bumps’? Have you ever ‘turned your nose
up at something’, or do you ‘keep a stiff upper lip’ and ‘keep your chin up’? A
variety of emotions help us give direction to our behavior and communication.
But what exactly is emotion?
UNIVERSAL
EMOTION
As recently as the 1960’s and 1970’s a
commonly held belief was that emotions stem from cultural environment. For a
long time, gestures and facial expressions were thought of as culturally
determined. Darwin’s 100-year-old research shows that emotional expressions are
not socially determined, but rather universally given. His research ‘The
expression of emotions in man and animals’* was published in 1872. The latest edition
was published in 2009 as part of UNESCO’s “Darwin 200” commemoration.
Paul Ekman, psychologist and pioneer in the
field of emotion and facial expression research, has annotated this edition and
thereby given it a new dimension. In his annotations, Ekman describes much of
his own research into emotion and how expressions of emotion can be put into
context. Among other things, he relates how every culture has rules for
expression, different sets of guidelines for controlling and regulating the
expression of emotions. For example, our culture obliges us to be graceful
about losing a match and happily congratulate the winner. There are also great
differences between East and West: for example, Asian people look at a face
differently, they focus more on the part with the nose, where in the West,
people focus alternately on the eyes and mouth.* For more examples, see Paul
Ekman and John Cleese in the BBC documentary The Human Face 2013.*
IN THE WAITING ROOM,
PERSPECTIVES FROM PHYSICAL THEATER
Ask anyone where his focus is when he looks at
someone, and he will most likely tell you that his focus is, of course, their
eyes. It is polite and shows sincerity. You might also want to show you wish to
see the other’s reaction. You want to compel the other to speak, you want to
get (better) acquainted, or you want to show dominance. Eye contact can give
someone a sense of belonging. In many Asian and African cultures prolonged eye
contract is considered rude. But the one thing we avoid saying is that we also
(want to) look at other parts of the body. In physical theater and especially
mime, we exploit this and it is a much-used idea for theatrical performance. We
play a scene in the waiting room: each enters in turn and nobody knows the
others. This is stressfull. Where are we allowed to look without offending
anyone? We say hello and in doing so also comply with the rules for expression
of gestures and emotion. Not too much, not too little. With due modesty, no
intimate approach, no searching glances towards the body. It is an acted scene;
whether in the theater or in a book it feels safe. After all, it’s only
fiction. The scene can be played in different ways: grotesquely, like a
slapstick, small underacting, realisticly, etc. It can be played using only
text or expressly no lines at all. This way face, gestures and body language
have to work harder. Style or manner do not matter here, it is about
perspective.
We will most likely see a lot of eye movement,
glances in every direction, a presence that constantly wants to reach out to
the other but at the same time yearns to crawl back into its cocoon. We will
probably see awkward gestures, what do I do with my hands? Where do I focus my
gaze? Will I sit up straight, with my legs apart or crossed? And what will the
others think of what I do? Most likely we also see that there is as much
distance between each person as possible, and only when there is no other
option will a new person entering the room sit down right next to another. The
farthest seat from everyone else is the best one, so everyone can keep the
maximum amount of personal space. The greeting space – distance to each other –
is different everywhere. Every culture also has different personal space.
Greetings are a joy to study. Why do the Dutch give three kisses in greeting?
And why are Americans so overly jovial when they say hello, like they have been
your friend for years?
I am a theater maker, mime player and dancer
which is why I am fascinated by human behavior. I observe it expressly to
capture it in a mirroring medium, to set the world at an angle as it were and
give the audience an experience that moves them and sets them free. I employ
every sign we use in our expression. I reflect on the power of wonderment and
the dynamics of our human world.
Capturing the unwritten rules, behavior driven
by taboo, forbidden acts, showing what everyone wants but cannot have, exposing
a deeper want, fear, wonderment, etc., the gut feeling, the maladapted, the
ones denouncing power and the powerlessness, the underdog and humanity,
subtexts (everything that is meant but not said), the dilemma of man in his own
behavior, any producer of theater keeps all these things in mind when working
from observation with his translation in the theatrical medium. This also
applies to other disciplines. In doing this we hope to get a peek behind
reality and come into contact with another perspective from where we can be
amazed and appreciated.
4. MASKS SERIES 1 CLIMAX
SCULPTED HEADS -
DESIGN AND OBSERVATIONS IN THEATERPLAY
FRAMEWORK
OBSERVATIONS
SCULPTED HEADS
Here it starts! The first series gives us a good
start, thanks to Datus Voorhorst, he can not wait any longer. We put the masks
immediately to the test on stage and from observations of all participants we
get a good idea how to develop further design. Most important, it becomes clear
we need a thorough further
anatomical study of the emotion expressions in the face! Also the enormous theater
history of mask and physical theater comes into play.
When
Datus works on a sculpture, he spends a lot of time on the facial features
which have a huge impact on the sculpture's power of expression. Studying
and creating masks fits well with his interest and passion to build
realistic grotesque historical figures.
Datus
drew for his series 1 and 2 masks
from The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression, descriptions by
Darwin and Ekman, but also studies with his own face in the mirror, after
the artists tradition of old days. It strikes him how emotions are hearth
felt when practicing in the mirror and in creating the masks. It refers to
our mirror neurons. His first design is a naturalistic representation.
|
Frans
Krom visites the first workshops when the series 1 is introduced, and find
the masks impressive, powerful and esthetically pleasing. Many
participants(volonteers and students) find the masks sculpted heads.
We
recognize Datus as the creator in the faces and all masks seem to have a
masculine character. It makes the series 1 almost too personal to be masks
for play. The expression is constructed too psychologically. All the signs
of the emotion have been put in to the mask, but they do not merge into
fully expressing the emotion. The masks appeal to a kind of stereotypes,
not yet to full-fledged characters or archetypes with their own autonomous
expression.
|
FRAMEWORK
First the masks are observed in pairs, sitting
on the floor. Students are taking turns for wearing the mask and writing down
notes. They are asked to describe, associate and provide characterization
images. Any association is allowed as observation. The name for the emotion is
not mentioned to exclude thinking and filling out expected answers.
After first obeservations, short
improvisations are done in random pairs. For some students it is their first
time playing masks. The majority have some experience from the Commedia dell’Arte
lessons and the so-called Basel or Larval masks. (see Epilogue chapters
Shrovetide and Jacq Lecoq' keymasks)
The rules for the paired theaterplay
improvisations are based on two main principles: transformation and
magnification. It starts out very basic and is nuanced during play. It is about
becoming aware of how the mask speaks and stay in the here and now and letting
the mask come to life. These rules are recognized by many and indeed generally
observed, however, my experience in teaching clown and mask play teaches me to
specify them. The framework is needed to allow every aspect like space and
dynamics to be clear. The transformation is made visible from the back of the
stage on a flat floor; it brings the masked actor focus and intention in ‘the
now’ with audible breathing. The first authentic material is repeated and
enlarges and magnifies in intention, dynamics, shape and space.
As we progress with observations and play of
the masks, the need is felt to give more input with exercises for mask play to get more clarity in play for the actor. The
result is a more qualified level of mask acting which gives a qualified test.
More and more I realize that the research is not only on designing
emotion-masks but also how to position it in the tradition of mime and physical
theater. We need to capture the specific theaterframework of physical theater
and maskplay and expertise is needed in this context,
OBSERVATIONS
When they are all put together, the masks are
distinct, have a powerful expression and differ from the others. They contain a
lot of information in colors, lines, volume, teeth, wrinkles. There are
remarkable differences in color and wrinkles in the masks. The shape of the
head is an essential part of its expression. The masks appear to be profiles,
characterizations of expressions. The expressions seem to be a reaction to
something. The emotion is represented realistically.
The mask heads evoke personages, characters.
They show extreme expressions of emotions. In about 75% of the descriptions the
words emotion, grotesque or magnified expressions are mentioned. In
observations students write that they see ‘emotion in the expression’, that the
‘expressions are sculpted’. Words like ‘colorful’, ‘very recognizable’,
‘universal’, ‘distinct’ were mentioned several times. Some refer to Lord of the
Rings figures, elves. Many references to actual persons or existing stories and
situations are made. A dozen times someone mentiones a likeness to actual
people. The expressions are interpreted as characters’ histories.
The maleness of the masks is lost in play.
There even appears to be a distinctly feminine mask: happily surprised. The
short improvisations are disorganized and lack further definition. At the
beginning, the inexperience with mask play leads to an overdose of physical acting.
This means the physical grotesque is more expressive than the mask. Especially
the concentration and taking time for the transformation itself gives direction
and allowes the masks to speak from their own expression.
Acting small, intimate and authentic, with
audible breathing, chosing space, and maintaining the initial impulse as
leading motive in the encounter let the masks come alive.
The compound expressions in the emotion masks
are definitely more ambiguous and complex. This is expressed
through more discrepancy in acting.
