The Mask as a Performative Object: History, Anthropology, and Political Theatre (original) (raw)

2022, European Journal of Theater and Performance

The article explores the ties between the actor Marcello Moretti playing Arelcchino in Giorgio Strehler Arino, The Servant of Two Masters and the mask, which, viewed in its materiality, appears as a theatrical thing. Taking our cue from Robin Bernstein who suggested apprehending things and objects in performative categories, I take a look at the mask as a special kind of scenario, imposing itself on the actor or performer who wears it. Contrary to Bernstein, I would not recommend seeing this property of the mask through its status as a Heideggerian Thing; I prefer to view the mask as an object, taking into account its inanimate materiality and dependency on the human body. I thus put forward the category of the “performative object,” which, in my reading, is also the key to understanding the mask as part of the theatrical archive, enabling the reconstruction, embodied updating, and activization of the history of old performative forms.