In my trip to the Metropolitan museum of art, these marble theater masks caught my eyes. Masks reminded me of one of the class lectures we had in the beginning of the semester when we were reading either Antigone or Medea. We talked about, how wearing masks changed the theatrical performance, and how an only limited number of actors were allowed on stage not to confuse the audience. Initially, only one performer was allowed on the stage. Through the use of masks, different emotions and different characters were established during plays, which eventually led to allowing three people on the stage. According to the www.greektheatre.wordpress.com, there were no women actors in greek theater, so men had to wear female masks to perform female roles.
According to the information display mask with long hair(middle) represents a tragic character, one on the left side shows a comedic servant type, and the third one represents a young girl from comedy. On almost all of the mask’s the mouths were largely cut-out or carved, openings helped actors to speak loudly. The way they carved out the mouth basically served as a megaphone, so audience sitting in the back of a big theater could hear what actors were saying.
Thanks for your informative post! The way theatre was organized and conducted in the past is definitely fascinating. You mentioned that “there were no women actors in greek theater, so men had to wear female masks to perform female roles.” In my opinion, the female masks do not display female characteristics. Nonetheless, the mask definitely resembles a comedic caricature!
Very interesting post, I agree with the comment above. Those masks definitely doesn’t resemble the features of a female, and they do strike me as comedic mock of a female rather than the actors just gracelessly imitating a female. It makes me wonder, if the reason behind the mask expressions is due to the actors reacted certain emotions in the play?
For an example: If one of the characters was angry, I would assume they would choose the 1st or 2nd mask, because of the sad expression as opposed to the 3rd mask on the right.
Thank you for this insightful post!
Hello
Thank you for posting. I appreciate how you integrated previous class discussion with your assignment. Refreshing my memory, the role of men and women during that time period. These three sculptures are very vibrant with their facial expressions. These expresses shows not only display the character behind the mask but also the artist and the time period.
Also, very interesting observation with the description of the mouth. Yes, it may used for projection for the audience sitting in back row, but it also displays how the character has to use that facial express and energy from the mask to display for the audience in the front rows. So, whoever are the characters have a very hard time putting it all together. They have an additional two roles. Role 1 projection for the audience in the back row. Role 2 keeping that same projection and adding body action for the front rows.
Thank you again for posting!:)
Hey, a.khaydarov
Thanks for sharing such informative post. Very interesting to know how the shape of the mask making the actor’s voice louder and easier for the audience to hear. Also, the mask looks abstract but each has its own emotion.
Hi Kaydarov,
Thanks for the information. You mentioned something that really grabbed my attention. You said that the carved mouths severed as a megaphone for the backstage audience in those big theaters. I think it is very innovative from them if we consider that there was no technology in those days. And it answers a question we had in class while reading Gilgamesh. How does the audience away from the center of the theater happen to hear what is going at the center of the theater?
Now, thanks to you, we have an idea.