Playing the Mask

Unlock the Power of Mask Work in Performance

John Wright's essential guide to mask theatre

About the Ebook

'Masks are empowering… They enable you to take risks. They provoke you into working with the reckless logic of a six-year-old or the enigmatic stillness of someone wiser than you'll ever be. But above all, masks let you be you without your habitual limitations.'

In Playing the Mask, award-winning theatre-maker and teacher John Wright explores and demystifies mask-work: what masks do, how they do it, and, above all, what they can teach us about acting.

This book is a wonderfully accessible introduction to a fresh and innovative acting technique for actors, theatre-makers and teachers to use in training and rehearsal. A mask releases the actor to be playful, and playfulness generates ideas, finds meaning, develops characterisation – and is infinitely more fun than traditional training.

Rather than a dry guide to making masked theatre, it is about, for instance, playing Lady Macbeth in Red Nose, or Hamlet in the mask of The Victim, The Ogre or The Fool, or even Romeo and Juliet in grotesque half-masks… All in the name of liberating your creativity and, ultimately, improving your performance.

Extensively illustrated with a rich variety of masks, this inventive and pragmatic book is full of invaluable games and exercises drawn from the author's own workshops, his experience as co-founder of both Trestle and Told by an Idiot, and his pioneering mask and clown work in many professional productions.

'Brilliant, entertaining and accessible' Paul Hunter, from his Foreword

Why You'll Love This Ebook

• Master the techniques of neutral, character, and full mask performance
• Discover how mask work transforms physical and emotional expression
• Apply mask training to deepen any performance practice
• Train with Nick Hern Books' renowned movement and mask specialist

Reviews

'Provocative and playful… the example exercises are invaluable references… [Wright's insights] feel fresh and welcome in both the rehearsal room and drama school training' Drama Magazine

'For a teacher wishing to find inventive new levels for teaching the craft of acting, this could be the answer... offers an innovative set of techniques for rehearsal and generates many useful ideas' Word Matters (Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama)

About the Author

John Wright is an award-winning international teacher and theatre-maker. He co-founded Trestle Theatre Company in 1980 and Told by an Idiot in 1993. He has worked on a string of productions and projects extending over three decades in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia and the UK, where his work has been seen at the National Theatre, the RSC, the Royal Court, the Almeida and the Royal Opera House.

He was granted a Greater London Arts Award for his contribution to professional training; and his belief that teaching is the greatest source of learning has enabled his ideas to be shaped and moulded by generations of students. He pioneered the teaching of Clown at university level and was one of the first people in the country to offer courses in devising.

He is the author of two books, Why Is That So Funny?: A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy and Playing the Mask: Acting Without Bullshit.

Publication Details

ISBN (EPUB): 9781780019680
Publication Date: 19 October 2017
Pages: 328
Format: Ebook (EPUB)
Publisher: Nick Hern Books

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