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the mask
the mask on the audience: not a lot of audience would like to be “in danger”, to be in a state where you don’t know what is happening, to have the experience that you can’t distinguish between what is real and what is not. the mask allows people who are uncomfortable with being ”in danger” to have protection and feel a sense of safeness. in some cases, the performers will be exposed to unusual conditions (being naked, being in a sealed space with few people, etc) that make them bodily and emotionally vulnerable. with the audiences wearing masks, their human identity is concealed by “the puppet” of the mask, a sense of safeness is provided.
"safeness"
suspension of disbelief
fluidity and freedom of stages are able to bring someone to the state of suspension of disbelief. the powerful moments of transgendering, transformation of identity on stage provides allowance that is not culturally accessible. the suspension of disbelief created in theatre can also bring out fear, for both the audience and the performer, especially in the performer’s case where they become something they can’t be in real life, transgressing their own physical limitations. the ritualistic barriers of curtains keep both the performer and audience safe, knowing the barrier of the stage exists. the reason for the existence of rituals (the bell, the sitting, the lighting going out) in theatre is then to expand the experience of suspension of disbelief and to provide safeness in that barrier transition between reality and fiction.
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