Masks or Faces Re-Visited: A Study of Four Theatrical Works concerning Cultural Identity

Abstract

Masks or Faces is a phrase William Archer used to title his I888 book on the psychology of the actor. His Ibsenian argument, that emotion and passion genuinely change the actor's face, left little room for the metaphorical mask, let alone real masks onstage. Nowadays, although the literal use of real masks, or faces with masklike makeup, have become commonplace, the emphasis has shifted to the psychology of characters and the social and cultural groups they represent. Thirty years ago, Jean Genet, in his plays Maids, Balcony, and Blacks, addressed issues of social, racial, and cultural identity most effectively by using theatre masks and other devices of theatrical multiple identities to shed light on people's true faces. Recently in the U.S., George C. Wolfe's highly theatrical and provocative Colored Museum and Jelly's LastJam clearly echo Genet's exploration of masks or faces. In 1993 this motif resonated in several theatrical works. David Henry Hwang's 1988 M. Butterfly touched upon the issue-cultural misunderstanding associated with the misreading of the face/mask. M. Butterfly's huge success certainly whetted Hwang's appetite for the theatrical theme of face/mask/cultural identity that has interested him for years. In his much anticipated second Broadway play, Face Value (try-out at Boston's Colonial Theatre from 9-28 February 1993; Broadway preview closed before opening), he tackled the issue head on by not only putting in the title, but also painting most of the characters' faces like masks to help make his point. character, Bernard Sugarmann, a white actor played by Mark Linn-Baker, paints a yellow face on himself to play Fu Manchu in the play-within-a-play called The Real Manchu. Two white-supremacist professors come to kill the gook, thinking he is a real Asian. Asian actor Randall Lee (Dennis Dun) paints a white face on himself in order to get into the theatre