Here they are! These are pictures of the masks I made for the Shakespeare Bash'd Midsummer Night's Dream project. I am very excited to share these finished products with you all. You can see them here on the face casts of the actors who played the characters. I had the great pleasure of seeing them bring the masks to life a few months ago and couldn't have been happier with the result.
This was a great experience because it is the first family of masks I've made. I had long talks with the director about what we wanted the world we wanted these characters to inhabit and how they would look. Bottom was a specifically important character to focus on because his mask would be the most complex to make.
We decided that we didn't want Bottom or the Fairies' masks to be too complicated. The masks would simply enhance, and heighten the world that the characters inhabited. Because all the actors in this show would be playing more than one role it was important to clearly define the different characters and the world they lived in.
This was a great experience because it is the first family of masks I've made. I had long talks with the director about what we wanted the world we wanted these characters to inhabit and how they would look. Bottom was a specifically important character to focus on because his mask would be the most complex to make.
We decided that we didn't want Bottom or the Fairies' masks to be too complicated. The masks would simply enhance, and heighten the world that the characters inhabited. Because all the actors in this show would be playing more than one role it was important to clearly define the different characters and the world they lived in.
We wanted the magical world of the play to be slightly grotesque. Bottom wouldn't be the soft, lovable ass that we sometimes see in productions of this play. I wanted to really highlight Bottom's transformation and the half-human, half-ass qualities of his character, which is why I retained visibility to large portions of the actors face. I didn't want him to look like an ass but rather a true cross between a human and an ass.
The same went for the fairies. They were designed to look other-worldly and not quite human, but still recognizable. We wanted to avoid the glitter and glamour that gets associated with the fairy world and highlight the real intentions of some of these characters. So the masks took on a bit of a more mysterious, brooding, impish quality. These fairies represent a wild part of the human psyche that acts on impulse, making them slightly scary and unpredictable.
All in all it was a great learning experience and an incredible time making these masks from design, to production and finally seeing them in performance. You can see more pictures in the Gallery, including some pictures of them in construction.
The same went for the fairies. They were designed to look other-worldly and not quite human, but still recognizable. We wanted to avoid the glitter and glamour that gets associated with the fairy world and highlight the real intentions of some of these characters. So the masks took on a bit of a more mysterious, brooding, impish quality. These fairies represent a wild part of the human psyche that acts on impulse, making them slightly scary and unpredictable.
All in all it was a great learning experience and an incredible time making these masks from design, to production and finally seeing them in performance. You can see more pictures in the Gallery, including some pictures of them in construction.
