The History of Masks in Theatre

1. The two most important functions for masks, entertainment purposes or not, are to disguise or to protect. The earliest recollection of the use/s of masks dates back to prehistoric times in relation to the hunting of wild animals. It is assumed that in the Early Stone Age, the hunters wore animal like masks in order to disguise themsel es, making the hunt more cunning and easier.

Masks for Protection

Masks in War ! the in ention that sa ed a small fraction of the soldiers who went to war was that of the gas mask. This mask was in ented in 1"#$, through many stages of pre ious in entions% primarily for firemen or sea&di ers. The gas mask was worn by soldiers and horses to pre ent no'ious apours from harming their lungs. The first use of this mask in war was in (orld (ar )ne *1+1$ ! 1+$,-. Sporting Masks ! in baseball, fencing, and snow sports, masks are used to protect the face from in.ury prone to sporting e ents. Surgery Masks ! /octors and 0urses wear protecti e clothes o er their mouths to pre ent their germs from entering a patient who they may be operating on, and the stop germs from their patient entering their mouth. This piece of e1uipment has become almost stereotypical for doctors.

Masks in Theatre
Since theatrical masks are physical, they are able to impress us *ie the audience- by making things come out of the dream, the fantasy ! and allow it to become a reality, a fantastical spectacle for our eyes to lap up in splendorous stupor and our minds to de our in thought and feeling. Ancient Greeks & Ancient 2reeks turned ritual into ritual&drama and so The masks that were famously used in Ancient 2reece were employed to honour, worship and depict their mythological gods. The masks were o ersi3ed and e'aggerated. They were fitted about the mouth of the actor, and assisted the actors with pro.ecting their oices o er such a ast amount of space. The 2reeks bought the making of theatrical masks to the height of their de elopment, and in a way, laid the path for the making of masks within the theatrical world. Middle Age ! during the mystery plays era of the 14th &15th 6enturies, masks were worn to dramati3e the character to the e'treme. 7ystery plays were written *often by church clerics, priests or ministersto show the public how bad sin was and what they should do in order to redeem themsel es. The messages in these plays were blunt and straightforward, not unlike the masks used. The masks were grotes1ue, usually depicting Satan or one of his monstrous minions. It is said that these masks were mar els to look at, despite the fact that they were constructed out of papier mache. Renaissance Italy ! in 1,th 6entury 8enice, the re olutionary art form commedia dell arte was in ented. This was an impro isational comedy consisting of characters so ridiculous in moral, that it was fundamental that the masks be ridiculous. It is said that the masks in commedia dell arte are both concealing and re ealing ! to what this means, you would ha e to few some of the masks that were used.
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Theatre masks are an important part of our dramatic history. 0early e ery ancient culture used some form of theatrical mask in rituals. :ituals, it has been determined, were the thing which allowed theatre to de elop. :ituals were, in other words, primiti e theatre. 4. ;ecause this theatre was <primiti e<, acting, as a skill and an art, had not yet been de eloped. Therefore, the person on stage did not know how to not be himself and the audience was not yet trained to imagine that he were the character he was playing. They used theatre masks as a way to let the audience know what character it was that they were watching. 7asks ha e generally been used as a significance of character. They let the audience know who the actor is portraying. Though this is not always true. They sometimes ha e additional uses. =or e'ample, the ancient 2reek theatre masks had a uni1ue o al shaped mouth which functioned as a megaphone, allowing all of the hundreds of thousands of spectators to hear what was going on. Theatre masks did not stop being used once the art of acting was de eloped, nor once microphones became standard on stages. They are still in use today and are used by many theatre companies. )ne of the best known uses of masks in today<s theatre is in <The >ion ?ing< on ;roadway.

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