Acting Through Mask

In Acting Through Mask, the first volume of his Mask: A Release of Acting Resources, David Griffith examines the present state of actor-training and recommends a way in which the standards of performance skills in theatre may parallel those already established in other performing arts such as music and dance. The author proposes a practical actor-training philosophy using mask, which will realistically work alongside current actor-training programmes. Opening with a brief survey of the actor-training experiments and styles developed by Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Grotowski and Brecht, Griffiths demands that the preparation for theatrical performance should reflect an awareness of training in performance in other cultures. The key to David Griffiths' philosophy as a theatre practitioner is the mask and here he explains the special skills required to animate it, helping the reader by extensive and cogent use of his own illustrations.