Giovanni Fusetti

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THE JOURNEY OF MASKS

30 May, 2011  → 4 June, 2011 - Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

PROGRAM

The journey starts with the Neutral Mask, a key moment of the whole Movement Theatre experience. It’s a mask that doesn’t have any dramatic expression, and allows the actor to explore a state of pure presence, in the here and now of space.
With this mask the actor explores the state of neutrality that exists before the action. The Neutral Mask has no memory and no projects, it lives in the present, and allows the actor to discover the difference between movement and drama. To explore the fluidity of the body and the essence of human gestures.
The Neutral Mask gives the actor the awareness of the natural "drama" that is present in her/his body and that tends to become a form of character or style. By unfolding these physical "background noises" the body reaches a state of silence and presence, available to the theatrical space.
Once the actor has discovered this space, s/he becomes like “a white page, ready to be written on in the future dramas“ (Jacques Lecoq).

Once s/he has touched the referential state of the neutrality, the actor is ready to start exploring the forms of human characters, and s/he meets the Larval Masks. These very simple and essential masks come from a very ancient Carnival Tradition of the city of Basel, in Switzerland.
They have been brought to theatre by Jacques Lecoq, who discovered their pedagogical value in the physical training of the actor. They are big masks, with very simple shapes, that suggest an expression (pointed, tall, narrow, pear-shaped ) while never fully defining the features of a human face. They announce the lines that will lead to a specific character, but they don’t define it yet. They are open and available to the space, and need big gestures to make them come to life.
In the world of larval masks everything is at the edge of beginning and the actor can search in different directions:
- to simplify and amplify gestures,
- to explore the mask as a moving structure in the space, with forms, trajectories, dynamic oppositions and to find the body who can reveal it,
- to explore the animalistic and fantastic dimension of the mask.

These unique masks, created by italian maskmaker Matteo Destro, propose primary human characters, very simple and very defined. Each one of them, like a musical note, moves on one dominant dynamic in space. They bring us to a state of extreme naivete, teaching the actor how to enter in resonance with a human character. In the eyes of these masks the world appears as an immense event, in which awe, astonishment and basic emotions take over intelligence and understanding.
The uncovering of the mouth frees the voice of the actor, allowing the exploration of different sounds, rythms and the beginning of words (grammelot) .

EXPRESSIVE HALF MASKS (HUMAN COMEDY)

Emerged from the archetypes of Italian Comedy (Commedia dell’Arte), half masks are a phenomenal instrument for playing. They introduce the actor to a precise physical definition of a character. They are very defined forms, where the larval movements have developed into a more complex structure. The main dynamic of the characters appears, as well as his opposite aspects, the so called counter-mask. In this style the actor is faced not only with the mask as a character, but also with a high level of playing, brought by the depth of human archetypes. These masks play in a world of survival, where passions, urgencies and human behaviour are pushed to a permanent extreme. Half masks have a specific tragic depth and can bring the actor to a very high level of poetic transposition, where laughter and crying are intertwined.

Improvisation skills and a play based of the constant unfolding of a comic theme, train the actor both to enjoy a very physical and rhythmical playing while developing the sense of playwriting and dramatic crescendo.
This incredibly vital style teaches the actor to truly experience what improvisation means, and how theatre can represent the wonderful madness of human beings, in a jubilation of rigorous fun.

COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE

The training culminates with the exploration of Commedia dell’Arte, the traditional Italian Comedy.
The characters, transposed by masks into particular types, require from the performer a level of play where the body is fully engaged, alive and always playful, thus revealing the poetry of survival.
The playing of the actor is rigorously framed by a scenario and by precise improvisation rules. Through the exploration of the types of Traditional Commedia, the work will touch some of the traditional scenarios and the rules of Improvvisazione: lazzi and “botta e risposta” (action and reaction), crescendo, pace and rythme, development  and  variation, climax and finale.

Commedia allows the actor to fully develop a creative, intuitive, highly visual and extremely physical style of performance. For these reasons Commedia dell’Arte is a physical celebration of rhythm, attitudes and improvisational madness.

During this training participants will use:

Neutral Masks by Donato Sartori, Abano Terme, Italy.
Traditional White Larval Mask, by Herr Zing, Basel, Switzerland.
Primary Masks by Matteo Destro, Padova Italy.
Expressive Half Masks by Matteo Destro, Padova Italy.
Commedia dell'Arte Masks by Stefano Perocco di Meduna, Italy.

CLASSES

 
The workshop will start on Monday, May 30th and will end on Saturday June 4th
Each day includes 6 hours of Master Classes.
Classes take place each day from 10am to 1 and from 2 to 5.

Master Classes include:
Movement Analysis and Movement Technique
Improvisation
Voice

ADMISSION

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