Larval Masks

Larval Masks - The Mask of Naivity and Curiosity
'Larvae-the active immature form of an insect especially one that differs greatly from the adult'-The New Oxford Dictionary of English.

Larval masks were transposed from the Basel Carnival by Jacques Le Coq. As masks and embryonic characters, they are fascinated by the world, but they do not understand it. Their immediacey and spontaneity, unfiltered by experience and comprehension, can create powerful images of vulnerability. In my dystopian circus play 'On The Air', they were representives of the displaced, prisoners and victims of war. Blindfolded and chained, before being released in a desolate landscape.

Effective exercises can involve exploration of props and space, humanisation into characters with one trait and interaction with more sophisticated half- masks and unmasked actors.
Mitch Mitchelson