This summer from 18/07-23/07 I will be at the Bush Theatre offering Clown and Commedia mask technique workshops. In a playful and wild workshop I share my technical knowledge in mime and mask play from the Lecoq and Troupe courage pedagogy. I am asked all the time what is the difference between these two workshops and how can mask work help an actor in their process. Playing with masks is one of the best training for actors, here are some of the reasons.
Picture from Troupe Courage's show "Ouda!" taken at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee camp in April 2012. Directed by Katrien Van Beurden, assisted by me.
Back to your playful self
The essence of theatre is play. The audience knows we are playing. We know we are playing. For the performance to be alive every time, we play together with and for the audience and allow ourselves to be surprised by that play. To play is not just do whatever we like, if you observe children at play you will see that a strict set of rules, even if they have just been made up, is what allows games to keep developing.
Masks give us permission to play and moreover give our game a structure. It is the architecture of the mask that plays with our actor imagination to bring to life a unique heightened character. The more we play, the better we become at playing.
Enhancing your ability to transform
In my workshop we play with half-masks (masks that cover half of the face). These masks are usually bigger than life and actors playing with them need to amplify their physicality in order to meet the level of play of the mask. The workshop´s pre-expressive work and mime technique will enhance your physical story-telling in order to completely transform your physicality and play diverse masks. Different characters, have different age, weight, centre, gesture, spine, feet, voice – and therefore they see and interact with the world in different ways. To transform in such a heightened way will allow you to expand the range of your expression in your acting, whilst still listening to truthful impulses coming from your body at play. Exploring extreme transformation that is still truthful in live improvisation with audience is, in my opinion, the rockn’roll of theatre. If you can do that, then all you have to do is understand the level of play of the play, script or process you are in at each time and adapt the expression of the same truthful impulses to the specific level of play.
An embodied process of studying character
Through movement we will explore the archetypical dynamic of each mask and find how they move, behave and follow their passions in order to survive. This is not a workshop in which you will explore the traditional characters of commedia dell’arte, where I tell you who these characters are, how they move and think. You rather investigate through movement who these characters could be today, in our society - with your own body and imagination. The mask is not alive without an actor playing it. Different actors playing the same mask might bring to life very different aspects of a mask. With the starting point of the mask, I offer technique for exploring the world of each mask through movement. Exploring character through movement allows the connection of your imagination and your body, you might find lots of knowledge and experience that can enrich your process as an actor.
Non-psychological play
Through improvisations you will fine tune your listening to the audience and exercise your playful muscles, funny bones and tragic hearts to move them. Heightened characters in human tragicomedy are extremely physical and non-psychological. With action and reaction coming from impulses in the body, there is no time to think or analyse. How many times have you been asked “not to think too much” in a scene? Such a hard request… sometimes making us think even harder.
The good news is that playing with masks is a great practice to develop the listening to your visceral impulses and following them, without having time to think too much. To play with half-masks is also an exercises of honesty – if we think too much, the mask won’t work because our body will be telling another story. To really amplify the pedagogy of the mask, I include lots of improvisations and the workshop culminates in an open class where friendly audience is invited. Improvising with an audience, their reaction, their breath and movement will tell us in an honest way if the mask is working or not – if we are thinking or following our embodied the impulses.
Being brave in the space
In my workshop I always encourage the space to be brave – I don’t like to say “safe to play” because the word “safe” might give the impression that we need to be comfortable all the time. To push the limits of our expression, to be extremely playful and wild with a partner and audience, to be specific in our physical storytelling can’t be comfortable all the time. I would rather argue that when it feels comfortable all the time, you might not be doing your best work. Actors need to bring this bravery to rehearsal, even before performance – to be brave every day allows new discoveries for their characters and the stories they are telling. If you are brave in rehearsal every day, once the audience arrives your performance will be taken to the next level.
I always encourage actors to be brave like a child that is taken by their play, taking care of one self, the space and the others. In my commedia workshop I offer the opportunity to practice this bravery that is so useful in rehearsal and performance.
Taking your mask training further
If you would like to apply for the Commedia workshop at the Bush Theatre in London, just fill this form. Be prepared to sweat and rediscover the comedic, tragic and poetic movement of each mask and what they can say and play today.
I am an associate artist from Troupe Courage, led by Katrien Van Beurden. This workshop is a good way to be introduced to the kind of ground-breaking work in mask play led by Troupe Courage.
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