From the traditions of Japan’s Noh theatre, to Bali’s Topeng and Italy’s Commedia Dell’Arte, masked theatre has fascinated Eastern and Western cultures for centuries. The art continues to evolve and develop, however, with some companies experimenting with blending the East and West forms. For Douglas Thompson, co-founder of Britain’s Alter Ego Masks theatre company, it’s about creating a contemporary approach to mask theatre by building on its historical roots.
‘I am fascinated with Commedia Dell’Arte, both in its historical context and what the form can offer to modern performers and audiences,’ he enthuses. ‘Commedia has immediacy, a vernacular ability and a complicite with a live audience.’
‘I’m not interested in the performance of Commedia Dell’Arte as a museum piece, but to use the ideas found in Commedia and apply them to our creative process,’ Douglas explains.
For example, the company’s touring Christmas production, The Head and Heart of Deep Midwinter – described as a non-linear adaptation of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol – marries Brecht and Artaud but is performed in the style of Commedia Dell’Arte.
Douglas established Alter Ego Masks a year ago with friends and colleagues, Aidan Marfleet and Catherine Conneff. The company runs craft workshops, drama workshops as well as staging performances.
‘It was founded, quite simply, because of my deep love of mask work and our need to create original material,’ Douglas says. ‘We’re starting small; with theatre projects in schools, street theatre, performances in pubs, clubs, libraries and even shopping centres.’
Douglas’ inspiration, Commedia Dell’Arte, emerged in 16th century Italy, during the Renaissance. The performances were improvised, requiring performers to move beyond the traditional boundaries of acting by possessing the ability to develop a script onstage. Characters such as Pantoloni (Pantaloon) and Arlecchino (Harlequin) are recognisable through signature masks and costumes – from Arlecchino’s colorful triangle-patched suit, to the Venetian merchant Pantolone’s ‘pantaloons’ and the poor and melancholy Pulcinella’s loose, white shirt and trousers. Other characters include I Dottori (the doctors), Amorosi (the lovers) and I Zanni, who provide the comic relief. The characters are a popular fixture of the Venice Carnevale, with it’s elaborate masks, costumes and music continuing to draw crowds of thousands since its origins in the 12th century.
Douglas says the specificity of the characters is one of the elements he finds most fascinating about Commedia, after discovering the art form eight years ago.
‘I first encountered Commedia as a performer in 1994 in New York, with the National Youth Theatre, and have since studied it at Bretton Hall and over in France with John Rudlin [author of Commedia Dell’Arte: An Actors’ Handbook].’
‘One of the unique qualities Commedia offers is that each persona is a recognisable and distinct archetype, like a musical instrument in a symphony,’ Douglas articulates. ‘Individually, each persona has a limited range, but together they create great music. It’s best to think of the entire performance as the character, each archetype adding different colors to the whole.
‘Uncle Vanya [Chekov] could exist independently of his friends and family, but Pantalone, patriarch of Commedia, cannot exist without a servant to rail against.’
In addition to the character’s theatrical masks represent, Douglas believes the mask as object is an important learning tool: ‘In a workshop context, the mask can teach the student to perform with their whole body, not just their head, and react instinctively rather than cerebrally,’ he says.
Although it’s still early days for Alter Ego Masks, Douglas has a clear vision for the company that is influenced by the different cultural landscapes of mask theatre. He hopes to embrace the more immediate nature of the art that characterised its original form.
‘There is a great intercultural inheritance with masks,’ Douglas observes. ‘Every culture has used them for ritual, whether theatrical or religious. In the cultural west, our understanding of the nature of the mask has become less immediate.’
The company also aims to bring the artform to a wider audience; by staging performances in everyday spaces such as shopping centres, streets, classrooms and also smaller venues, encouraging an active rather than passive viewing experience.
‘We’d like to surprise a non-theatre going public into the realisation that theatre is not an elitist subordinate to television and literature.’
Alter Ego Masks is currently touring their Christmas production and workshop, ‘The Head and Heart of Deep Midwinter’ nationally. For further information, visit the Alter Ego Masks website.
