Mask Work
Our mask work in drama was an
experience that I very much enjoyed
very much. It also made me a better drama student because I increased my body movement far more as my
face could not be seen. It has also shown me
that with a mask on you can go for it with
your body movement but you should go for
it just as much with out a mask on.
Fragments
This part of the portfolio is where I say what Fragments of Mask work I learnt and enjoyed.
Key word Fragments:
Fragments of movement we mainly made up our self’s but always had to keep them ritualistic and precise. The movement we were taught in certain lessons were from a ritual and had to be Ritualistic and precise so every move was important.
Examples of fragments I learnt in the lessons regarding Mask work: I remember the first lesson that we did mask work I was so unsure weather I would like it or not. What we did was sat in a circle Miss Grenene did movements that we had to copy in a ritualistic style. Then she made up copy the ritual routine with sounds so eventually we were all doing the same movements and sounds making us a chorus. Then she made us carry on the ritual adding sounds and movements on to it as we go. Miss was also playing the drum, which made it sound like an ancient ritual war drum. I felt unsure while doing this but however my emotions became more confident as the class ritual got better and better. The feelings I had were that I had to keep together with the group like a chorus should. Real life sounds and memories of sounds and movements were used in that ritual to carry on to making our own ritual. Like clapping whistling stomping all kinds of sounds and movements. All these ideas ran through my head and I was thinking this is good so why not add this, this and this to the piece. This was the starting point for our work as next we had to do a ritual in masks, which really does complete the ritual. I had to team up with Ross, Jack, Lisa and Joe to perform a Ritual of travelling from a neutral calm place to a hot place, to a cold place and then a funny place. I discovered on this first performance with a mask that because my face was covered up I had to express my character with my body and even more so as I didn’t have speech. We all had to huddle together as well to look like a chorus. Sadly I felt nervous on that performance as everyone was moving at different times and I could not keep up so it went badly. For the movements I thought I should look freezing and act it and look hot and act it for the others I did the same basis for the ritual. I understand that a ritual is to be a serious occasion and you should act serious and focused while acting out a ritual like for example in a funeral or wedding. Which brings me onto my next piece which was when me Jack, Lauren, Keeli, and Michelle were acting out a wedding. The manor of this performance had to be serious and precise which it was. We did slow clear-cut movements that flowed and were symbolic to a wedding. This was a good piece when we performed it however the white cloth got caught in Keelis hair and we all ended up laughing. When we performing it I saw weddings on t-v and in real life and saw how formal they were, so I decided to draw my performance from that. I played the vicar and with the mask on I felt that Ginny was gone and the Vicar of the wedding was there. I felt calm and good about this performance as it was done well but we all laughed which emphasized even more the need t be serious in a ritual. Not one of my fragments up until now has made me happy with Mask Work. Not because I don’t like because I always couldn’t do my role correctly in movement or voice. Now I was put in a group for my moch exam and I was brilliant and confident from the word go I had no problem expressing my self and loved it. I feel that if I did it once I can do it again maybe it was the pressure of the exam that made me do well, however I am far more confident with mask work after that.
