Back To School: Mask Play

Back to school today! Both classes have been joined together for the MASK PLAY workshop. So there's roughly 30 of us, and class with Philippe is being extended for an extra hour to compensate for the bigger numbers.

We have a new movement teacher, Nicole, from Germany, who looks like a super fit personal trainer, and she teaches a bit like one too! She's been teaching at École Philippe Gaulier for thirteen years now so she definitely knows the spirit of the school and teaches in it too. Great. :)

In this course we're going to work with Larval Masks, then move on to Commedia dell'arte, and finally work with half-masks that we have created ourselves. I've never really done anything like this before so it is very exciting!

This week: Larval Masks

They are carnival masks from the city of Basel, Switzerland.

In class, Philippe got groups of 5-6 to grab a mask and then enter on stage individually and be with the audience for a bit, trying to make the mask come alive. He said "everything is for the mask". No other advice! I love that. Over time we as a class through trial and error will discover what is needed to give life to the mask - a very experiential kind of learning.

Some masks were adorable and funny. Others were dead for us - usually because the actor was doing way too much - ideas. But sometimes it was because the mask was "no good". For a mask to be good it has to have clear features - eyes, nose and mouth - and when shown from different angles it should show different expressions. We should read it differently. But a few masks weren't so clear which made it really difficult for the actor behind it. So we put a few 'bad masks' to the side.

Going up with no idea about what are the 'rules' of this mask is scary! But it's also freeing. I was quite nervous when I went up (which was 2nd) which I was surprised by because I like to tell myself at the start of workshops it's okay to be bad because I know nothing about what we're learning about...so how could I be good? But I think a desire to be good got to me a bit. But the nerves also would have come from the fact that it was the first day, there were lots of new actors I'm not used to, it was just me on stage, AND you can't bloody see in the masks! They have tiny tiny eye holes which are not in ideal places - especially when you have to keep the nose of the mask up. But they are absolutely joyous to watch!

Some things I observed that are important about the masks today:

• Fixed Point - We need stillness to see the mask. A game of Grandma's Keys at the end of class illustrated this well.

• Isolation - As actors we need to be clear about which part of the body we're playing with. The head, shoulders, arms, pelvis, or legs? All at the same time is too much. Philippe got us to dance in groups after we'd gone up individually, and he said to dance just with your legs, and then just with your shoulders. I got caught for my head moving as well as my legs - a no no... got to keep all the parts separate. Rocio was great dancing with a big ugly greedy kind of mask on. She just put one foot forward then one foot backwards but it was hilarious!

• Small/subtle/simple - Philippe would often mock students..."ohhh wonderful...so subtle..." He'd often get gestures/movements to be smaller.

• Light on feet - Sometimes Philippe would get people to move really quickly also.

• Be tall

• Horizon line - Keep the nose up...the same concept as for neutral mask.

• Don't show the strap! - When you do the magic of the mask disappears. It's good then to wear something like a beanie or a scarf or a hood to cover up the back

• Not human - These masks aren't human. They are something else. So naturalistic movement may not work so well, I'm not sure yet. But little moments like a body still with just the fingers twiddling were fantastic. Philippe also said it's good to cover up the skin (wear gloves etc) to keep out of the human realm.

Exciting!