IT'S NOT YOU
Mask workshop with Jos Houben

Date: Saturday 7th 10:30am-5pm - Sunday 8th November 10:30am-4pm
Location: Deptford Lounge, SE8 4RJ
Nearest stations: Deptford, New Cross
Workshop fee: £180
We have 3 x bursaries available for this workshop.

All cultures have at some stage developed and some still conserve, forms of theatre that involves puppets and masks. This workshop investigates the mysterious relationship between the mask and life. Its purpose is not to teach how to play a theatrical mask, but to discover what occurs when we put one on. At first, the mask feels like a strange object that bothers us. Gradually however we begin to feel hidden, and we start to do things that we would never ordinarily do. We discover a new freedom that is greater than the naked face. Detached from our own face and words that we use in social contexts something emerges that is greater than ourselves, something more powerful, more visceral, more confident, more honest and we have the whole body to express it.

We will be using half masks: talking masks from the tradition of Italian commedia dell'arte.

These masks only come alive in situations of great urgency. They require a high level of playing and a rigorous physical discipline. They propose a theatre of immediate reaction. Driven by fundamental motors of the human condition, the playing is governed by the need to survive, physically and socially, in situations of hunger, fear, poverty, jealousy, vanity, pride… The universal passions and desires that lie under the thin veneer of education and manners.

This short workshop offers an opportunity to go deep down in our bodies and find in ourselves new, surprising gestures and voices. Together we will explore humanity's tragic and comic contradictions though pure joy of movement and play.

Although no previous experience of mask work is necessary, this workshop is designed for experienced, professional performers.