Next Step Workshop

During Easter season, my wife and I were watching the Sight & Sound Theater’s presentation of “Jesus” on television.  It was professional, engaging, and inspiring.  Yet, there were times we had to choose to ignore the fact that these actors were wearing theatrical wigs and hairpieces. It was so obvious that it was actually a bit distracting!  Now, a couple years ago we had gone to the Sight & Sound Theater in Branson, MO and experienced one of their live performances.  We could never conclude anyone was wearing a wig.  Why is that?  Simply, these theatrical performances are done on a giant stage a minimum of twenty feet away from the front row.  The distance masked some of the little visual details. But, when the camera zoomed in for close-ups for their television special, the little details were clearly seen.

In theater, the actors often apply a flesh base make-up, rouge and eye-liner.  When they come off stage for the after-party, they may appear overdone in that intimate setting. What seemed as a natural look on stage could be overbearing when close up.

Historic clowns are often known for their comical exaggerated cartoon faces. Today, few clowns perform with that type of make-up design.  The reason is, in the early 1900’s as the audience attended shows in circus tents and vaudeville theaters, the lighting was quite dim. The larger highlighted features on their faces were able to be seen across the ring even with lantern/lamp lighting. Even as electrical lighting improved, the clowns continued with large features because they wanted their smiles to carry across the ring and up to that old gal in the 31^st row in the bleachers.

Chagy, who performed and spoke at our 2023 FCM Convention, shares that there are three main forms of live communication.  We use our faces, our body language and our voices.  Each one may have a significant role to play in communicating with an audience. Sometimes our physical communication may speak even more loudly than our voices!  Our facial expressions display our thoughts and emotions.

Mime make-up is usually quite standard and stereotypical:  White face, small red or black lips, black eye liner, black eyebrows. That’s about it. The purpose of a mime “mask” is to actually give the mime a blank sheet for expression.  The white is actually intended to take away personality. A mime may want to be a “blowing tree.” He may want to be an old woman, or a preschool child, or a sail on a ship.  Any use of stylized colors and design on the face may hinder his ability to portray the whole variety of characters he may be presenting in various skits.  He doesn’t portray one character (like a clown) but creates different characters in different settings. This is why the features drawn on a whiteface are minimalistic. Simple small lines accent the mouth, the eyes and the eyebrows so those features when moved, portray and accent the emotion the performer is portraying. The face becomes a tool, rather than a billboard with graffiti on it. The “mask” is a blank canvas that will not distract from but allow the emotion to be portrayed.

This is where many fledgling clowns err.  The clown make-up is to help portray a character while at the same time helping show one’s expressions. Make-up is not used to hide who a person is, but is used to help them express who they are and connect with their audience as the character expresses thoughts and emotions.

The most important features in a make-up design are your eyes and your mouth. These are the areas of the face that move with expression.

Many clowns are minimizing the size of their facial feature designs. Some are eliminating usage of any make-up.  This is understandable as many are doing a lot of close-up interactions. The over exaggerated features in a close-up situation would actually hide expression rather than help it.

I adjust the amount of eye-liner and feature highlighting based on the size of my stage, my audience, my distance and lighting in the venue.  I pay attention to my expressions along with my verbal script because, as Fred R. Barnard said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The visual aspect of our presentations can speak loudly!

# posted by Randy @ 10:19 AM