What This Book is
About
Many of you have probably taken part in a play, in school
or as part of neighbourhood activities. You may also, at some
time or the other, have come across masks: perhaps seen a
traditional mask somewhere, or what is probably more likely,
worn a mask to a party. If you have, you probably recollect
the strangely exciting feeling of becoming someone else. What
may be new to you, however, is that the two-masks and
acting-can be combined into a great performance. This book
shows you how to do that.
This kind of show is not new-masked performances go back a
long way, and there are many traditions all over the world
which are still alive today. To learn more about this, we
invited mask makers and performers from four different
traditions in our area in South India, to a set of workshops
with a group of twelve year old kids. They showed us their
skills and knowledge, and inspired us to come up with our own
show. Our performance was not traditional - it used masks we
made from simple everyday materials, and a story we created
ourselves.
This book is based n our experiences, and it given you
step-by-step guidance on how to create your own masked
performance. This is not to say that everything went
completely smoothly for us. On the contrary. But what we have
done is to put our confusions and mistakes to good use-we've
taken note of them and worked them into this book. So it has a
lot of detail, and also gives you a sense of what you need to
watch out for when you create your own performance. It can be
used by anyone who wants to put up a show: an amateur theatre
group, an educator interested in craft and performance
lesions, a group of kids on their own, or as a school
production. You need to be at least twelve years old, though,
to be able to use this book effectively on your own.
How to use this book
For practical reasons, we've divided the book into two
obvious sections: the first one is on masks, and the second,
unsurprisingly, on performance. The two go together, of
course, but unless you enjoy complete chaos, it's best to keep
the activities separate.
So take up one section at a time, and work through it.
However, the order in which you do this is left to you. You
can either make your masks first and think up a play to go
with it, or work out your play and then make the masks for it.
Remember though, that the section on the making of traditional
masks is there only to inspire you with ideas to think up your
own-you are not expected to make them. The masks that you can
make are in the section Your Own Masks (p. 43). These
are also starting points for you to be inspired to create your
own.
The instructions are simple enough to be followed by
anyone, but if you are a group of kids going through this on
your own, you might want to get an older person or a teacher
to help you along.
We've included a complete script of our own performance as
a last section. You could perform this, or use it as a
guideline when you are coming up with your play.
Planning
You need about a month (of 5 to 6 working hours each day)
for putting up a complete masked performance - including
making the masks and scripting and rehearsing you play.
The way you put together this time is entirely up to you.
And it depends largely on your situation. If it is a school
production there may be constraints with the time-table, and
you may only be able to meet once or twice a week. This is not
ideal, though you can make it work.
It is good to plan in time on certain consecutive days,
especially when you are making masks. Sometimes you need to
let things dry overnight and come back the next day to finish
it. if you find it hard to meet everyday, try to put aside
time, to complete one kind of making (say moulded masks), for
two days, and then meet again later in the week for another
session.
This goes for your performance as well. At certain
times-while creating the script, or at particular points
during the rehearsals-you need to meet everyday. Otherwise
you'll find yourself starting at the beginning each time,
because half the group will have forgotten what happened last
time, once the whole thing is in place, though, you can be
more relaxed about fixing rehearsals.
Being professional
A final word about the intention of this book: most of us
have taken part in a play before, though maybe not in a masked
performance, we tend to think that it is all a matter of
commonsense, and that anyone can put up a show with a few
tips. It's true that it is not too hard to come up with a
show-but equally true is the fact that it's not easy to come
up with a good one.
A good performance is one that the audience enjoys as much
as the actors-it's a very satisfying experience to create
something excellent. All you need is to want to do it, and be
willing to put in some hard work. And you do, of course, need
to know how to go about it practically That's where this book
comes in. it will guide you through the entire process of
putting up a good performance, as though you were
professionals.
Contents
| What This Book is About |
5 |
| A Note for Educators |
8 |
| Section I |
|
| Masks |
13 |
| What Is a Mask? |
14 |
| The Power of Masks |
16 |
| Masked Theatre |
19 |
| Learning from Tradition |
21 |
| Moulded Masks |
22 |
| Cut-out Masks |
27 |
| Pace-painting |
32 |
| Dressing Up |
37 |
| Your Own Masks |
43 |
| Moulded Masks |
44 |
| Cut-out Masks |
52 |
| Face-painting |
56 |
| Headgear and Accessories |
59 |
| Section 2 |
|
| Performance |
65 |
| Learning from Tradition |
67 |
| The Basics of Masked Performance |
68 |
| Your Own Masked Performance |
70 |
| Heads or Tales? |
71 |
| Script |
73 |
| Spinning a Yarn: A Story |
74 |
| From Story to Script |
79 |
| Plotting |
80 |
| Making A Scene |
84 |
| Dramatic Decisions |
86 |
| Words and Songs |
89 |
| Production |
99 |
| Who is the Boss? |
101 |
| Performance Script |
|
| Strange Faces |
132 |
