Masks in Theatre

By Caitlin Gregory

The Greeks used masks as an essential part of their theatre. When they performed in their outdoor ampitheatres, the stage was difficult for many in their stands to see, high up. So the masks were a shorthand way of allowing everybody to see the faces of the actors and to immediately identify which one was which a god.

The masks also had another purpose: to amplify the voices of the actors. Because of the way the masks were constructed, they served as a natural megaphone.

Masks in theatre continued with the medieval passion plays, a.k.a. the morality plays, but its use became limited. Usually, it was only the devil who would wear such a mask.

In Shakesperean times, masks were only used as a symbolic device. Romeo and Juliette meet each other at a masked ball, which is important because they never would have become involved if they'd known what they were getting into.

And the mask today is used in a similar way, to symbolize hiding. For example, in "The Phantom of the Opera," the dramatic white mask is used to disguise the actual deformed face of the phantom.

The masks of today's Hollywood are permanent ones. They are what actors and actresses do to their faces, through plastic surgery. While sometimes the surgery is more obvious, such as the notorious example of Michael Jackson, it's often intended to be subtle, easy to overlook.

The mask is an invisible one, by popular consent. For example, Barbara Walters looks like she hasn't changed in 20 years. It could be that she just has "good genes," but a more likely reason is that she went to a very skilled plastic surgeon who gave her a natural looking facelift.

Most of this plastic surgery is for similar motives, to increase the star's bankability behind a mask of everlasting youth.