Last night I had the great pleasure of going to see this performance at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool. I had posted an advance of it earlier and do hope that some of you managed to go. It is to my embarrassment that I confess to never having heard of Mask performance, I would have thought it would loosely be classed as mime but this was terrific. The story covered an old lady who heard that her training hospital was to be demolished and went for a last look at her ward. It was funny, poignant and very moving at times.I have never seen an actor wearing a mask, which obviously kept the same expression, convey such a range of emotions. There were only four actors to portray all the characters and you were so lost in the story that you didnt realise that so it was quite a surprise at the end when they revealed their faces. Music was played at times and some sound effects but no spoken word at all. It has left me with very thought provoking reflections regarding spoken text and how speech makes it easy to explain plots/emotions/subtleties balanced against the extreme talent and sensitivity of what I saw last night.It really was magical and will live with me for a long time. The company continue to tour over the next few months so if they come nearby do make the effort to go and see the production. see a few photos of the production below.
In the foyer.