Masks

[This is the first blog which I will publish, rest remains in my diaries, or as ashes in the wind. ]

Masks

I am a person from the field of Theatre, so my first blog is dedicated to the wonderful art of Theatre and to my club Hindi Drama Club

Masks. What are they? Why are they? How important they are to an actor? Are they still there in Theatre? We haven't seen them recently?

Masks. A Mask is nothing but another face you can put on. A Mask is something you want to be, but are not. A Mask is a veil, a cover to hide what you are. But in Theatre, A Mask is not just a piece of cloth over your face. It is a whole new person.

Masks in Theatre have two inherent qualities in them. One, they conceal what you are. Every actor when he plays a character puts on a Mask. By wearing that Mask he kills himself, before he becomes that character. He then exists no more. His existence is only with the character and not with himself. He breathes, eats, talks, even thinks like his character. The character is then the only thing living on stage. And when character finishes his part, the actor removes the Mask. He resurrects the actor and leaves the character.

But, one may argue hiding ones-self from others and presenting a different face is hypocrisy. Is that what the Mask is all about? No, the second quality frees the Masks from this act. It also dictates why the Mask was made. Why is it still important?

Second, Masks define a Character. Just like a normal mask is of a definite shape, material and colour. The Masks in Theatre are also simple moulds into which an actor tries to fit, to create the characters we see. The Masks in Theatre are created by the Playwrights (& the director). They are, as we already saw, a complete person. That Mask is a person just like you and me, it can walk, talk, sleep, do everything that we do, but the way it does things is already defined. (as is the case with us, :) ) And, we know what that definition is, (as is not the case with us :( ), the definition that the Playwright had made for that Mask(character).

Now, you may wonder, if every character has the same definition throughout, then why do we feel, we saw two completely different characters, when we saw the same play twice. It is matter of how well the Mask fits the actor who wears it. For some, it may fit perfectly well, for some, it may be too tight and we can see the actor also along with the mask, for some, it may be loose or too big, that the mask itself is out of shape to fit the face.

Though, unlike the Shakespearean era, we don't see actors wearing Masks, made of tangible materials. But an actor puts on a Mask everytime he Acts.