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Maschera Neutra
Our Body Knows Much More Than We Do
When we are born, a series of impositions, cultural factors, habits, frustrations, and vices shape our body into a form that no longer truly belongs to us. Our breath is calibrated to the rhythms of our lives and daily routines, and we are not accustomed to recognizing it, let alone listening to it. Yet, breath is what makes us alive—human beings who speak and act in a space. Breath and the body are the vibrating strings of our main instrument: the body itself. Understanding its functioning allows us to master and use it consciously; it enables us to play the sweetest or harshest melodies, just as we would with a guitar or a violin.
The workshop we propose is designed to provide guiding tools that every actor must know to begin and continue their journey toward connecting with their body and its expressive possibilities.
The tool used in this journey is the mask, conceived as an object, a garment for the actor. The mask initially confines the actor, allowing them to perceive the lines and contours of their body and how it interacts with space, only to then liberate them. To freely express oneself solely through the body, even before using words, one must first recognize the laws that govern space and movement. Only after experiencing these laws can the body transcend them, becoming creative and expressive.
The Path to Discovering Neutrality
The workshop begins by introducing participants to their neutral state through the experience of the neutral mask. This object, worn on the face, allows the wearer to achieve a state of neutrality that precedes action—a state of receptiveness to the surrounding environment, free from inner conflicts.
Historically, the neutral mask is primarily a pedagogical tool that emerged from the work of Jacques Copeau, who in 1920s France sought in the mask a way to return to the actor's body.
The neutral mask reveals and engages with the universal aspects of each person. It is thus a study of the human being as a body, as a presence, before it becomes the bearer of a drama, a story, or a character. Pedagogically, the neutral mask helps students work on their stage presence before any narrative element comes into play. It is an exploration of silence, state, presence, and fundamentally, space.
If we imagine the body as a sheet of paper, the neutral mask allows us to smooth out the sheet, calming all the "creases." Each of us is a sheet carrying a collection of folds, partly tied to our genetics and race, and partly to our emotional history, shaped by how the environment has acted upon us—just as the wind can shape a tree. The same species of tree, growing in different places, will assume different forms, even though it remains the same tree.
Ultimately, the neutral mask is a tool for developing stage presence, not for creating characters.
info@illocoteatro.com
+39 3336035061