Abstract
Education to Theatricality is pedagogical and artistic research; it is a science that includes different disciplines such as pedagogy, sociology, human sciences, psychology and the performing arts in general. The scientific basis of this discipline allows us to apply it in all possible contexts and with any individual, because it keeps the man in the center of its pedagogical process. One of the fundamental principles of Education to Theatricality is the development of the actor-person; the main aim is the development of creativity and imagination through a scientific training led by the actor on himself. This article introduces and analyses the Neutral Mask as an important element of theatrical pedagogy in relationship to its psyco-pedagogical aspect and as an educative instrument to train a person and to improve the development of creativity. The state of rest, calm, relaxing or suppleness silence is the starting point of every expression. The exercises with the neutral mask help students to investigate their inner world. When you wear the mask, you destroy the conception of time and of normally shared space, and the student has the opportunity to “dig” inside himself, facing his own identity. This essay presents the birth of the Neutral Mask in the Vieux Colombier School in Paris and explains its role in Jacques Copeau’s pedagogy; then the article analyses the psycho-pedagogical elements that characterize its use in a laboratory of expressive arts; it gives a definition of laboratory and gives some exercises; in the end it specifies the role of masks in the dramatic play. Education to Theatricality as pedagogy uses the expressive arts into the theatre workshop to lead the subject onto a path of growth and training, activating the original potential skills of this person. An instrument such as the Neutral Mask, used during a theatrical workshop, allows to develop a greater self-awareness. By learning a silent language, a student can deepen the perception of his body and of his self-awareness through the use of Neutral Mask during a theatre workshop.
Highlights
The Neutral Mask can be considered the result of an evolution of the use of masks in theatre history (Ebong, 1984)
The mask (Bettini, 1992), has undergone great transformations according to the expressive needs of each era (Maertens, 1978); at the beginning it was used to personify a sort of bond between men and gods (Turner, 1967), over time, it was used for many different goals: for popular rites or to play the Commedia dell’Arte (“Comedy of Art”) (Sartori-Lanata, 1983) that wanted to express the capability of man to transform himself playing animals, ancestors, gods, etc. (Ottenberg, 1982)
The Neutral Mask was born in France in the 20s, in Jacques Copeau’s Vieux Colombier School (Copeau, 2000) (Leabhart, 1997: p. 17-34) in Paris; for the French pedagogue-director it was not a way of acting, but a training method for the students; this special mask, allowed to locate the body in a non-daily dimension but in an “universal” one, in a sort of neutral state of permanent discovery of life
Summary
The Neutral Mask can be considered the result of an evolution of the use of masks in theatre history (Ebong, 1984). Working with the Neutral Mask every student starts an individual research that leads inward, searching the deepest feelings. It works on the pleasure that every man feels wearing a mask and pretending to be somebody else In this transformation, the possibility of hiding maybe is more important than the possibility of expression. It is a kind of porous screen through which we can establish a contact, an exchange, a transfer This double soul characterizes the face and allows a sort of double meaning, so we have the mask as fisiognomic expression and the mask as a secret. The face is exposed to a sort of neutralized nakedness, thanks to the Neutral Mask It seems to show the value of a general function, a condition that transcends the singularity of our feelings. It is important to enhance the use of the Neutral Mask in order to use it into educational psycho-pedagogical dynamics as a useful resource for improving the quality of people’s life
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