Mascaras en Fuga

I went to another very interesting piece of theatre today.

My teacher from Central de Integracion Teatral, Geraldine dramaturged and starred in this a show centered around masks in yet another hole-in-the-wall-wouldn't-even-know-it-was-there-unless-you-already-knew-it-was-there theatre in Palermo. I always feel super legit finding places like that!

It takes place on a train, not in any specific location, but a space and time in transit.
The train attendant, wearing a half mask that covers all his face except his mouth and chin, wanders up and down the stage calling out in gibberish language (when wearing a mask, you always speak as an extranjero, not as yourself).

A girl (played by Geraldine, mi maestra!) with wildly unkempt hair carefully obscuring her face, enters nervously carrying a red tote and sits down. The man, obviously enamored, takes her ticket and in an elongated aside to the audience rehearses how to give her a flower as a token of his adoration in the form of a mimed dance! Unfortunately for him when the lights change back to reality, the girl has skirted the train car leaving her seat now empty. He leaves her rose resting there awaiting her return.

An old man (also played by Geraldine) enters with a full face mask that obscures both eyes and mouth, shuffles up and down the ailses against the simulated motion of the train and finally comes to rest on the opposite bench from where the girl was just sitting. He too carries a familiar red tote. The train attendant asks the trembling old man for his passport and examines it scrupulously, then his train ticket which the poor man can't seem to find in his pockets. When the attendant has his back turned away, the old man hurriedly shuffles off in the same direction as the girl previously.

The attendant is enraged and rushes off in search of the little old freeloader. In his absence, a suave business man (Geraldine again!) in a suit, scarf, and another full face mask enters the scene confidently, again with a red tote, and sits in the girl's seat next to the rose. Intrigued, he picks it up, examines it, and smugly tucks it into his lapel. The attendant, obviously disgruntled, reenters and demands to see the business man's passport and ticket. The business man then presents to him, perhaps a bit too confidently, the passport of the tremulous little old man! Now aware that he has an imposter on board, the attendant struggles to subdue him, but just as their fight reaches its climax, the train crashes to a screeching halt. Blackout.

Lights up. Police sirens. The imposter has escaped and the attendant holds a newspaper (clever written in gibberish language... gotta love attention to details!) with the hairy girl's photo on the front page. She is a fugitive. As he reads, a very attractive oriental woman (Geraldine, obvio!) in full face mask, with a tell tale mangy mess of hair enters and immediately obscures herself with a large fan. Obviously she has caught the suspicious eye of the attendant, but she proceeds to do a seductive dance with her fan to distract his attention. He isn't fooled. The girl sees the futility of her actions and decides to abandone them and ceremoniously removes the oriental mask. Her true face however, is still completely obcured by her hair. The attendant tries to cuff her, but realizes he just can't. His initial feelings for her still linger. Then in another almost ritualistic dance, he removes his mask and she replaces it with a black fabric cap that covers his whole head. She dons one as well and for a fleeting shared moment the two are utterly faceless. Then, he gives her his guise, she assumes his identity and marches out of the train car, abandoning the solitary disoriented attendant who lost his identity to love.

Only seconds later though... she returns! She can't do it either! She returns his face, which he in turn, lays to rest with hers in her red tote, and together the two of them turn upstage, remove their last and final masks obscuring their real selves from the outside world, and exit triumphantly hand in hand.

Mascaras en Fuga, Masks in flight.
It was interesting to see how many ways of masking were used: actual masks, hair, caps, fan, simply turning away from the audience. I took it as a representation of the multiple layers of deception and protection that we build up and envelop ourselves in on a daily basis, letting only a select few past those barrier walls. Also just how many guises one person can don. Geraldine played one character, who moreover assumed the character of 4 other masks on top of that. How challenging to play a character within a character, and constantly changing the identity which is obscuring the identity which you are already affecting artificially!
There's also the question of flight, fleeing, being a fugitive. What is it that we all are running and hiding from? Reality? Honesty? Ourselves? What is it about our true faces that so offend?

I don a mask everyday. It's true, even in comfortable settings, but especially so in my life down here. I pretend to be a local who knows her way around every time I leave the house. Los portenos all maintain a very serious facade on the streets, no smiling almost ever, despite how openly emotional they are among amigos y familia. I admit, sometimes its exhausting to constantly work for obscuring the identity I carry with me, that was forged in another land and lifestyle. I do feel like I'm living an alternate life sometimes, like I'm not who I am back home. That person doesn't fit into the world down here as snugly as she does up there. I'm figuring that by the time this extended acting excercise is coming to an end, my transformation will have become complete and I will not know exactly how to discard my Argentine self upon returning to my own homebase. I've been desperately missing the stage, and the exhilaration of rehearsal and performance and audience... but I've just now realized that I am performing everyday, for everyone that I meet. This could be the most valuable and challenging role I've ever played.

Hmmmm.... I wonder if I could put portena on my resume??