13 - Masks in Greek and Roman theatre

Summary

We know with certainty that the mask was an essential feature of theatrical performance in ancient Greece and Rome.

We are frustrated by the paucity of evidence relating to why it was adopted and how it functioned.

We are encouraged by the fact that, like the actors of old, we can don similar masks and learn from the experience of performing in them something about their use and significance in the ancient theatres.

Over a period of fifteen years, I conducted a series of productions and workshops of tragedy and comedy with a view to discovering what we might learn through performance. Specifically, each production was designed to test certain hypotheses about theatrical performance in ancient Greece. It was clearly understood that it was impossible to recreate the original productions or their context. But particular aspects of those performances could be tested in isolation.

The tragedies and comedies performed or workshopped in whole or in part were Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Philoctetes and Ajax; Euripides' Medea and Bacchae, Aristophanes' Women at the Thesmophoria and Lysistrata and the lyrical Homeric Hymn to Demeter.