Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2011 - 84

book

reviews
Strengths and weaknesses

Mask Makers and
Their Craft

An Illustrated Worldwide Study

By Deborah Bell; Jefferson, NC, McFarland,
2010; 264 pp. Cloth, $55.
Reviewed by John Wallace Nunley
Although Deborah Bell's Mask Makers and
Their Craft: An Illustrated Worldwide Study
may be questioned as "worldwide" in its scope,
it is a fascinating study of contemporary mask
makers and their performances. Bell, a professor
of costume design at the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro, primarily focuses on
what she refers to as "traditional" mask makers
who create such objects and present them in a
Western drama-theatre context. Her excellent
discussions concerning the lives and thoughts
of outstanding professionals in the field include
master teacher Bruce Marrs, Joyce Radtke,
Donvieve, Lauren Raine, and Rob Faust, to name
a few. Bell's close association with these artists
allows for interesting narratives about their lives.
The carefully conducted interviews reveal views on
masking and the role of such theatre in sustaining
social living. They show especially the challenges
mask makers face in a quickly changing world,
where the Internet and a host of social media are
changing local, regional, and national cultures
on which human society is based.
Just one reservation here. The reader may
be confused by the term "traditional" artist. I
immediately thought of artists in Pre-literate
societies who have been involved in shamanic
performance since the lower Paleolithic, at
least. I did not think of the workshop-oriented
educator craftspeople Bell is considering.

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The strength of this volume is Western mask
theatre as it has been shaped within academia
and related workshop environments. Bell's
exploration of Dell'arte International and its
impact on contemporary mask makers is a
must-read for students of mask theatre. Her
discussions of Mazzone-Clementi, Amleto Sartori,
and Jacques Lecoq establish the foundations
for our understanding and appreciation of her
beloved profession and field in general.
The strengths-and weaknesses-of this
publication stem from Bell's vast knowledge of
masking geographically and historically. In some
respects, the reader may be overwhelmed by the
number and various types of masking which
are considered. In Chapter 2, for example, Bell
goes "worldwide" in discussions of Nigerian
masquerades of Egungun, Gelede, and Epa;
Shewan secret-society masking in Malawi
and Trinidad; and Tobago artists who create
Carnival bands of practically any scale. There
is an attempt here to compare these masking
traditions with those of her peers. Yet reasons for
comparison get lost in the detail. I have studied
the Yoruba Gelede and Egungun in Sierra Leone
and worked with the artists, dancers, musicians,
and producers all within the long history of the
Yoruba in that country and the political culture
on which those masquerades were founded
and have evolved. But most readers will not
be familiar with these traditions and will be
confused by so much information. This criticism
is reserved equally for the Trinidadian section, a
place I have also worked. The book would have
been better served had Bell focused on just one
example. Furthermore, Bell incorrectly refers
to the island nation of Trinidad, yet locals are
quick and proud to point out that the nation is
correctly named Trinidad and Tobago. Also in
Chapter 2 Bell includes a section on masking and
physical-mental therapy. Not at all developed,
this section could have been cut, thus reducing
the overabundance of information in the book.
Chapter 7 explores the belief Bell shares
with Joseph Campbell that there are interconnections throughout world mythology and religions and that those connections are related to
Sigmund Freud's belief in a time-space he called
archaic and Carl Jung's belief in what he called

spring 2011

a universal collective unconsciousness. In support of this view, Bell briefly cites a group of
Northwest Coast Indian masks, commenting on
their similarity to stock characters of Commedia
dell'arte. But the parallels remain to be identified, only serving to further confuse the reader.
What's needed here in the exploration of
world consciousness, human universals, and
masking is a serious and rigorous discussion
of shamanism. Bell assumes that the reader
knows what the term means in both the
broad and detailed sense. However, without a
comprehensive explanation which would have
included a cosmogram of the axis mundi and
the three realms and their associated forces,
the reader, unfortunately, is left without a
foundation for comparing mask making and
performance worldwide through time. Such a
discussion would have added more meaning to
Bell's interesting thoughts on films and masking
as well as video games, for example.

Mythology and masking
Likewise, discussions of mythology and
masking are underserved when Bell cites Sir
James Frazer through anthropologist William
Bascom on P. 183 where the former once stated
that the source of legend is memory, myth is
reason, and folktales imagination. These are
big thoughts, yet the reader does not get a clear
understanding how this all relates to the general
discussion. Likely adding to the confusion, Bell
does not offer the reader Frazer's actual written
statement concerning these cultural truisms, nor
is there a footnote for Frazer's reference or even
a citation in the bibliography which the reader
could pursue. More rigorous editing could
have served the more philosophical content of
the book. Moreover, the author inadequately
considers the powers and instrumentality of
metaphors in the realm of masking. Eminent
African art historian Herbert Cole summed it up
by describing a masker as "I am not myself."
Such insight to the masking phenomenon would
have been beneficial here.
The general discussion on the significance of masking to human social evolution
could also have benefitted from an essay on
masking origins found in Masks: Faces of
Culture (Abrams, 1999). Finally, the quotes

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2011