'Using Masks'
10.03.15
Research
Greek theatre/Noh theatre//Commedia dell’arte Masks
Greece
The mask first emerged in Western civilization from the religious practices of ancient Greece. In the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine actors tried to impersonate him using goatskin and wine this then developed into the early stages of masking. They used a white linen mask hung over the face (a device supposedly invented by Thespis, a 6th-century-bce poet who is credited with originating tragedy), he enabled the leaders of the ceremony to make the god manifest. Therefore the actor was inspired to speak in the first person, giving birth to the art of drama and masking. The Greek mask seems to have been designed to exaggerate the features, to make clear at a distance the precise nature and the characters power in the piece. The mask made it possible for the Greek actors to play more than one character in the tragedy productions by simply changing masks and costumes.
Here are two types of masks
Tragedy: Tragedy dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Typically the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him. The three great playwrights of tragedy were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Comedy: The first comedies were mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness. The first master of comedy was the playwright Aristophanes. Much later Menander wrote comedies about ordinary people and made his plays more like sit-coms.
Japan
Noh is an art form that uses masks,There were originally about 60 basic types of noh masks, but today there are well over 200 different kinds in use. noh performers feel that the noh mask has a certain power inherent which makes it much more spiritual than a prop to change their character or its appereance. The noh performer will carefully choose a noh mask, known also as a noh-men or omote. In most cases, the exact mask is not predetermined, depending on the person performing the noh and what energy they are feeling then they will choose their mask.
developed from the mid to latter part of the Muromachi period (1392-1573).As Noh masks started to become more popular the performers thought more about yūgen (mysterious beauty) and profundity,and didnt really care for their own beauty and felt they had to hide their imperfections through the mask and concerntrated on making the noh mask even more beautiful and stronger. Its very hard to to tellwhat actual feelings are being expressed from the mask this is due to the fact that the performer does this through dance and minute actions; it has been made purposly “neutral”. One of the techniques used in this task is to slightly tilt the mask up or down. With terasu (tilting upwards) the mask appears to be slightly smiling or laughing and the expression lightens somewhat. While kumorasu (tilting downwards), produces a slight frown and can express sadness or crying. Basically, by using minute movements, the performer is able to express very fully.
Here are two types of Noh masks
- Kishin (Demons)
- These masks were developed early in noh’s history and are used for portraying demons, goblins or other worldly creatures. This category is divided into two main parts, tobide (fierce gods or demonic spirits) and beshimi (goblins and other creatures).
- http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/mask.html
Italy
Commedia dell’arte Masks emerged in the second half of the 16th century in Italy. It is a masked form of physical theatre that involves comedy and a lot of improvisation. It is a style that emerged during the renaissance following the plague, “Black Death” at a time of, death, starvation and economic upheaval. The major themes of the Commedia to be based on death, love, hunger and greed. The commedia is a style that, although comic, rests essentially in tragedy and revolves around fundamental themes such as fear: fear of death, fear of life, fear or everything. It is cruel, in the present, and without remorse. have the exaggerated, strong features that make room for all the grand human emotions i think this is done to exclaim loudly what type of character is being played, this is compeletly opposite to the noh masking as the performer shows the emotion where as greek masks and commedia dell'arte use the masks to tell the emotions.
here are two types
Pulcinella: Always dressed in white with a black mask (hence conciliating the opposites of life and death), he stands out thanks to his peculiar voice, whose sharp and vibrant qualities produced with a tool called a swazzle contribute to the intense tempo of the show. Pulcinella often carries around macaroni and a wooden spoon. According to Pierre-Louis Duchartre, his traditional temperament is to be mean, vicious, and crafty and his main mode of defense is to pretend to be too stupid to know what's going on. In some versions Pulcinella has a brother Cucurucu.
Scaramouche: entertains the audience by his "grimaces and affected language". Salvator Rosa says that Coviello (like Scaramouche) is "sly, adroit, supple, and conceited". In Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman, Coviello disguises his master as a Turk and pretends to speak Turkish. Both Scaramouche and Coviello can be clever or stupid—as the actor sees fit to portray him.
http://themaskery.com/commedia_dell.html
