Theatrical Masks

In this article I argue that significant parallels can be drawn between two important approaches to the human face in the Classical era: the one shown by the Hippocratic facies, the face of severely ill patients described in the Hippocratic Prognostikon and referred to in the Hippocratic corpus, and the face of characters in tragedy as it is conveyed through the text, in performance and, of course, by the convention of masking. I describe these parallel features in terms of relative standardisation of the visible features of the face; of its changeability through interaction with others; and of the emphatic effect operated by the face within the given narrative (whether a performance, a figurative representations, or a clinical report).
I also discuss, as a counter-example, the tradition of physiognomy in ancient medicine and culture, making the case of its extraneity to the core of the Hippocratic doctrines and clinical practices, and illustrating its relevance in later medical and philosophical developments.

In this article I focus on the performance practices of one of Sumatra's little-known mask varieties, that of sakura theater, performed in the southernmost province of Lampung. I also draw attention to four other Sumatran mask types, namely, those used in funeral ceremonies of the Karo Batak in North Sumatra, mak yong theater of Bintan, gobang ritual of the Anambas islands, and mendu theater of Natuna. In order to gain a greater understanding of the Sumatran mask images and to illuminate their use in performance, I first trace the history of Sumatran mask design, sourcing relevant iconographical and archeological data dating back to the migrations to the island in the Dongson era (500– 1000 bce) and the subsequent Hindu-Buddhist period (first to fourteenth centuries ce). The masks' facial features and their functions in Lampung personify animals, gods, demons, and humans and resemble carvings of supernatural beings on Buddhist temple remains throughout Sumatra. The ancestors are believed to have traveled along South Sumatra's and Lampung's extensive river system to Skala Brak in West Lampung along the southwestern Bukit Barisan mountain range, bringing with them their cultures and artistic skills. Moreover, the later interethnic contact between southern Sumatrans and the Benanek Dayak community in Kalimantan may have influenced the designs of the masks, given the similarities between them in the two areas. Today Lampung sakura masking in its various forms, dating back to the pre-Hindu-Buddhist period in Skala Brak, takes place in mystical healing and village cleansing ceremonies, at pole-climbing festivals, and in street processions on the Muslim feast day of Idul Fitri. As an indirect means of affecting the people's mindset, sakura processional performance practices and their allure affirm the Lampung worldview. Karen Kartomi Thomas is an adjunct senior research fellow in the Performance Research Unit, Centre for Theatre and Performance at Monash University. Her primary research projects focus on theater in Sumatra, including the Riau Islands.

Atos de Presença, Atos de Ausência: outra maneira de se pensar o mascaramento discute questões relativas a ampliação da compreensão da máscara e do mascaramento. Apesar da estreita e secular relação entre ambos, pode-se encontrar na cena contemporânea o efeito de
mascaramento desvinculado de um artefato, operando modalidades de
performatividade e teatralidade em diferentes estilos e estéticas, sobretudo no que diz respeito às questões relativas à presença cênica. Propõem-se aqui observar a presença cênica por outro viés, como um estado emergente de possibilidades, que ocorre no limite da ausência, isto é, na percepção do vazio imprevisível e não planejado durante a execução de uma ação. Essa abordagem está baseada em práticas que atuam como um tipo de mascaramento, que engajam o corpo do intérprete e que tem como resultado atrair e sustentar a atenção dos espectadores.

Acts of Presence, Acts of Absence: another way of thinking about the masking discusses issues related to expanding the understanding of
the mask and masking. Despite the close and secular relationship between both, can be find in the contemporary scene the masking effect disconnected from a device, operating modalities of performativity and theatricality in different styles and aesthetics, particularly with regard to questions of stage presence. It is proposed here to observe the scenic presence by another way, as an emergent state of possibilities, which occurs in the limit of the absence, that is, in the perception of unpredictable and unplanned empty during the execution of an action. This approach is based on practices that act as a kind of masking, that engage the body of the performer and which results to attract and hold the attention of viewers.

How is 'embodied knowledge' transmitted? Certainly, in most Asian traditional performance practice, it is dinned into the body of the disciple through daily repetition. Unlike many western performance techniques, for example classical ballet, the discipline and transformation of the body in Asian performance forms is not managed through abstracted exercises, but rather by learning whole roles. In Bali, the student imbibes technique through regular practice until tarian masuk-literally until the dance enters the body. As a beneficiary of this pedagogical method, I know what it feels like, and as a student of anatomy and kinesiology I have some intellectual understanding of the nervous and muscular processes that make the appropriate movement happen; but how is this 'sensuous knowledge' transmitted? This case study examines the author's experience of directing a group of Western-trained actors using techniques of Balinese topéng for an intercultural production of the Greek tragedy Hippolytos. It explores the physical and philosophical challenges for those who would make intercultural work, and who must find appropriate and effective methodologies for developing new body practices-often in a very short period of time.

Kathy Foley is a distinguished scholar, performer, and director based at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and she has also taught at the University of Hawai‘i, Chulalonkorn University, Yonsei University, and the University of Malaya. A specialist in wayang golek puppetry of Sunda (West Java), she has also published widely on a diverse range of performance forms from all over Southeast Asia as well as India, Tibet, Japan, and Korea. She has written and directed plays and operas and curated exhibitions of masks, puppets, and performing objects and was editor of Asian Theatre Journal from 2005 until 2018.

The 'Actor's breath meets mask': Rethinking living cultural tradition through craft practice in design for performance practice-based project generates a new study of the relationship between the design of theatre masks for contemporary performance, their function as actor's working tool and their fabrication via a novel technical experiment, the traditional art/craft of crocheting. This research project involves artistic and theoretical investigations with applied pilots and practical application. The artistic practice of the research cases/pilot productions will eventually be investigated as a whole, from multiple viewpoints, through several material based themes. This article is to be seen as the first step to discuss the methods of practice based, artistic research from the viewpoint of this mask project. I will propose and pre-analyse some approaches for investigating the case(s) of crocheted theatre masks through material based examples. The methodological aim of the project in its entirety is to draw together a proposal of an integrated approach to practice-based, costume-led and craft-oriented research in the international field of costume research through series of articles deepening the research themes introduced in this first one.

Due to a vast transmigration program instituted by the Dutch from 1905 and persisting under the Indonesian government from the 1950s to the present, the ulun Lampung (indigenous Lampung people), comprising just 13 percent of the total population of Lampung province in Sumatra, have for decades remained a forgotten and neglected minority in their own province. The indigenous Lampung performing arts illuminate this social problem as demonstrated by the topic of this article—sakura masked theater performed by the Saibatin ethnic group living in Lampung’s
mountainous northwest. Unlike the performing arts in Java and other parts of Indonesia, which were largely regulated by the national arts’ policies of Depdikbud (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Ministry of Education and Culture) out of the national capital, Jakarta, the history of sakura masking has been determined by the marginalization of the ulun Lampung via the century-old transmigration program; this has resulted in their social stigmatization, perpetuated by communities of pendatang
(newcomers). Reviving the arts was to take place through a program of promoting the Lampung philosophy of pi’il pesenggiri (self-respect) by drawing on components of traditional hospitality, including bestowing Lampung titles at traditional ceremonies on both guests visiting—and immigrants residing in—the province. This program wasinitiated by the current ulun Lampung governor not long after his appointment in 2003, and continues to be implemented today.

This article begins with a description of a sakura event, which took place in 2010 in Canggu village, West Lampung, and discusses its traditional meaning and social function. It then traces the history and changed function of sakura under the colonial through the national New Order and Reformasi governments to the present.