After an amazing summer, we returned back to school for our last year of high school and our last year of IB Theatre! We started off learning about, experimenting and acting with Basel Masks, which were created by Jacques Le Coq, who was a famous French actor, mime and acting instructor. Quite interestingly, Le Coq pursued acting as a result of his interest in sports. At 17, he did gymnastics and later went to a physical theatre college in 1941, where his fascination blossomed in the relationship of movement to theatre &the expression of emotions and traits. Thus he became a physical education instructor then developed his interest in acting. He was strongly affected by the rhythms of athletics, which was like “physical poetry” to him. In 1956, he opened his school acting school; L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where he taught acting, mime and physical theatre till his death. Influenced by Commedia Dell’Arte Le Coq also developed Basel masks, with each mask portraying a different character as well as some common human traits.
The different masks/ characters are below including details of their description &movement:
1) Neutral (speaking): This Basel mask is a neutral mask however as opposed to the rest of the masks, the mouth area is open and the actor may speak. Although this closes the other half of the face for facial expression, the mouth is available to use for expressions (e.g. open mouth to show shock or fright). Thus, this mask focuses on dialogue, voice however the actor must also not forget to maintain movement. This mask moves according to what or who is in their environment at a particular moment (which ever surrounds this character, affects its movements). E.g. if this neutral speaking character was with Idiot they could react to Idiot in any way they liked.
2) Neutral (not speaking): This mask resembles a neutral, simple human-like face/ character. The actor wearing this mask can’t speak since the mouth is fully covered and thus the actor has to express him/herself through unexaggerated movements which makes the actor have a bit of a challenging role. This neutral mask can present a character with whatever expression that’s chosen. The movement of these neutral characters is highly important in portraying their character &emotions. Once again this neutral character can act any way according to whichever other characters there are in that scene.
3) Idiot: The “Idiot” Basel mask has a fat nose, droopy eyes, a pouty lip and an overall sad and confused complexion. These features of the mask itself evoke immediate sympathy from the audience in addition to a few small movements of confusion (like scratching the head and putting both arms up as confused if to say “I don’t know”, “what do I do?”). This character is usually the one who messes up everything, is always confused and does the wrong things. There are actually 2 ways in which “Idiot” can be portrayed. One way is to portray it through body language, with its stomach out, lazy walk &back hunched over with shoulders shadowing over their body. Another way is to portray it as a character, which has medium to quick movements, like duck waddling quickly, with medium quick steps and then pauses to show the confusion.
4) Sloth: As the name indicates the “Sloth” character is one, which is extremely slow in its movements, very lazy and expressionless. The ‘Sloth’ Basel mask has no expression with only 2 small circles as eyes; it’s long and oval shaped, symbolic of the sluggishness of its character. “Sloth” must move slowly, lazily (with little or no movement) &be uninterested in things happening around him. This character must drag his/ her feet with shoulders slouched.
5) Fatty: As indicated by its name, this character is very fat, lazy and loves food. “Fatty” is very similar to “Sloth” due to the fact that they’re both lazy, have slow movements and may have similar body language. The “Fatty” Basel mask has a fat face, a large nose and small eyes, which stick out. “Fatty” is also a funny character who can also be goofy. ‘Fatty’ must move in a lazy manner, slightly hunching his shoulder and sticking out his stomach/hips to portray the fat stomach of the character. When Fatty falls to the ground, he/she cannot get back up; so when acting it out we ended up on our backs with legs waggling around in the air and struggling to get back up.
6) Lizard: The ‘Lizard’ Basel mask can be worn either on one’s head or face (traditional way). The Lizard has a large chin, which includes the mouth and nose. The nose has 2 circles with rectangular eyes. Lizard is more of a strange, animal like character, who’s obedient and very curious about things &people; he/she’s usually paired with Charlie or Military and is their pet. Lizard moves in a fast yet steady motion; it moves in spurs of sprints/ small quick steps &examines everything around him/ her (can also act like a dog).
7) Military: The ‘Military’ Basel mask has a rectangular nose with squared nostrils &a dimpled mouth. Using 4 sided shapes, the ‘Military’ mask has a very structured, rigid face, which symbolizes his rigidness and strictness in character. This character is rather frightening, as he is militaristic, commanding, strict, stubborn &tough. He mostly gives out orders to other character or his pet (Lizard) &is harsh by nature. Military must move with a straight back, head high, shoulders parallel with the rest of body. And their arms could be crossed with a very structured/ militaristic walk (stiff straight strides like walking in the army &the actor must have rigid/ sharp movements).
Charlie: The ‘Charlie’ Basel mask portrays a snobby, self-obsessed character who doesn’t care about anyone around them but themselves. Charlie has a big, long, pointy nose &a big ego, who’s stubborn &proud &views him/herself as above everyone else. The actor portraying this character must have his/her held up high to characterize his superiority &attitude. Charlie moves with his/ her own pace & doesn’t really care about others around him/her.
Theatre! 
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