While I have been designing masks for a number of decades, it’s not always true that I am also performing in one of them. However I am one of the actors in Love’s The Best Doctor, an adaptation of L’amour medicin by French playwright Molière, currently playing at Dell’Arte International.
And it’s a blast!
My experience in the world of mask performance tells me that actors who make at least one or two masks have better understanding of playing in mask; and conversely, mask makers who have performed in mask are better positioned to making masks for performance. So I am grateful to have re-entered the performance world a number of times in the last few years. It’s a more complete experience for me.
Love’s The Best Doctor, adapted and directed by Michael Fields from the play by Molière.
Lucinde fakes an illness and her father calls in medical help…and the doctors arrive…including Dr. Munch, an arthritic acupuncturist (Julie Douglas); Dr. Ballich, an old, old-time GP (Mike Murdock); Dr. Dickinsheets, an Ayurvedic doctor (Tony Fuemmeler);Dr. Savage, a surgeon (Sean Lang);Dr. Roland Fucklehead Kissme, an idiot (Ben Clifton); Dr. Crypto, an insurance adjuster (Tony Cogliati); and Dr. Fee, a pharmacist (Maria Sotiropoulou)
The play features a number of inept doctors more focused on trying to maintain status and/or get paid than helping a patient find their way back to health. They are a variation of the Dottore character from the Italian commedia dell’arte, the one who acts as if they know everything, but truly do not. The contemporary adaptation—don’t be fooled by the 17th century costuming—features five doctors, a pharmacist and an insurance adjuster. The variations in the character afforded me a little latitude to utilize other mask types in the chorus of “healers”, including a Pulcinella, an Arlecchino/Brighella hybrid, and a Stupino. (This last one is a type developed by students working through the decades at Dell’Arte, often credited to Gina Bastone).
In designing the character ecosytem, I consulted with designers and directors often before offering my ideas to the actors. I wanted to find a variety in my iterations of Dottore masks that could support the actors to develop their characters, bodies, and gestures in a way that could make those characters print clearly for the audience. This chorus is not made of clones, but rather of individuals with both similarities and differences.
The controlling father is a classic Pantalone archetype, and is played very well by Dave Ferney. His mask features some very wild eyebrows; the costume designer, Lynnie M. Horrigan, excitedly added some of the same material to his hat to complete the framing of the mask. A few characters, as is traditional, do not wear masks but rather heightened makeup; the lovers and the servetta. However, they still play in the physical vocabulary of the mask world.
The fun comes with the play. As we rehearse, we don’t merely memorize and practice; we discover, invent, propose and refine. The masks help guide the work and, ultimately, convey the inner life of the characters to the audience. The actors and the audience play on each other as partners. We play outside and react to all that’s present. It’s a very live form.
