Today we did a workshop on Trestle Theatre using masks. We started off the lesson by walking around the space and leading with our feet, then we led with a body part of our choice. I chose to lead with my head which gave me the emotion of feeling curious and confused. This exercise helped to get warmed up and thinking about the connection between physicality and emotion. Next, we got into a circle and passed on a facial expression each and copied the person before us. We then added a gesture to the facial expression to connect the body with the emotion.
We were then shown a mask with a face which looked sad and we all copied this image by drooping our lips and then slouching our shoulders and walking with a slump to convey the emotion. After this warm up exercise, we got into groups of three and each group was given a different mask. We labelled ourselves as 'A','B' and 'C' and 'A' led the group by making the facial expression on the given mask, 'B' then followed the same facial expression and added the body language of the character, and finally 'C' mimicked both the facial expression and body language and then turned around to wear the mask. We all stood in a line in our groups to show the transition between each stage of development.
To develop this further, we got into groups of four and had to create a scene using different masks each. In my group, we chose the setting of being at a theme park on a rollercoaster ride. We showed this by having the ticket master standing with a neutral mask holding a sign saying "£5 for a ride ticket", whilst each character entered the stage space one by one. This was an effective way of introducing each character to the scene as it gave the audience a few moments to gage the personality and emotion of each character. The first character entering the scene was scared and had a round mouth to represent this with raised eyebrows. The second character which was played by me, entered the stage with hands on the hips, as the facial expression was eyebrows raised in a unimpressed manner. The third character was very smiley and entered skipping around and grabbing a ticket joyfully. The three of us then worked well as an ensemble as we moved in sync from left, right, down and back to portray being on a rollercoaster ride. We then stepped off the ride one by one to show the audience our reaction on the rides which were scared, unimpressed and happy. We also used theme park music through out the piece to set the scene.
I enjoyed using the masks and learnt a lot about the technique such as less is more. The mask does the talk and the audience enjoy the performance and are really engaged with each character when the movement is subtle yet clear. I learnt that the reaction has to always be out to the audience to create a comedic effect and to let them be involved in the experience. Moreover, I learnt that the masks should not be touched during the performance and no speaking is allowed as this breaks the illusion.
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