Research Notes: Masks and Trance I

When creating the characters of the masks in The Innamorati (and they are a lively bunch) I was profoundly influenced by both the traditions of the Commedia Dell 'Arte but also by Keith Johnstone's' brilliant work Impro,  on improvisation for actors and the power of the mask to influence the actor through a form of possession. The mask doesn't merely rest on the actor's face according to Johnstone, but rather takes control of his every movement, his voice, his very being. 

I saw this myself once many years ago when a local theater troupe wanted to do a production of a weird little one act play by Yeats called "The Cat and the Moon." The play has only two characters -- a blind man and a lame man -- both who want to visit a well in hopes of being cured by a saint. The play begins in broad humor as the lame man rides the shoulders of the blind toward their goal. But it descends into a frightening sort of violence the closer to the well they come. The play was being performed at a festival, but the director, coming from Ireland, would not arrive until a week before the show. To prepare, the actors memorized their lines cold, and I mean really solid. The director would arrive and they would have a week to spend on sets, blocking, and fine tuning the actors' performances. 

As requested by the director, I made two masks -- white grotesque faces for each character. More Greek than Commedia as they were full masks with wide open leering mouths so that the actors' voices could be clearly heard. I brought them to the first rehearsal with the director and the actors fussed about putting them on, touching their faces nervously (a no-no in mask work since it can break the illusion), clearly uncomfortable. Just before they began the first run through, the director turned to me and said, "Watch, they won't know any of their lines." I was astonished by the remark as I had already heard the actors speed through the play without a hitch. "Why?" I asked.  He answered, "Because the masks don't know the words yet."

And fall apart they did -- stammering, stumbling, struggling not to touch the mask, completely lost through the whole run of the short one act play. At the end the actors took off the masks, their faces red and sweaty, and relieved to free of them. "Again," the director called, adding "Keep your hands off the masks." The second time was better, but still awkward, dropping lines, a hand straying upward and then remembering, waving away the desire. The third, then the fourth, the fifth.  And then it happened. The masks knew the words, and the actors surrendered to their possession. I saw it happen in one chilling moment where the lame man in a fit of rage beats the blind man to death, and remains hunched like a animal over the prone body of the mortally wounded blind man. From his crouch the mask turned toward us and it was utterly terrifying. The eyes were black holes in the grotesque white face and it seemed as if the mouth had become even crueler and more predatory. The actor's entire body seemed bent to the will of the mask. The hair stood up on my arms and I felt a chill across my neck. The director exhaled hard and said me to "See...now the mask knows." 

When the rehearsal was done, the actors removed their masks very slowly. They seemed bewildered and not a little frightened by the experience of surrendering so fully to the mask. It took them a while to return to themselves -- though shots of whiskey were therapeutic to speeding up the process. I would say it took courage for them to return to the masks for the actual performances and I can't say as they ever got used to the eeriness of it. 

Years later, when I would begin writing The Innamorati, that memory of those possessed actors fueled parts of the plot, allowed me in a way to create masks that were fully formed creatures, able to speak for themselves, able to interact with those wise enough to see their power. 

Photo Credit: La Cornacchie della Moda

Research Notes, Johnstone, Impro : Masks and Trance I, Trance States in Masks II, Rudlin Commedia Masks III

Excerpts from The Innamorati: Anna and the Masks , Anna Surrenders, Anna's Return

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