ABSTRACT
This is it. Ask the first person to sit on the floor with their back to the audience. If it is possible, when working with a younger age group, try working with a blank wall in front of them. Give them the mask, and ask them to look at it, to pull the face of the mask on their own face. From that expression, an internal sense of the character comes, even if the facial impersonation is not great. Ask them to think about the speed and rhythm of the character and to have a sound in their head that is the ‘voice’ of the character. That is all they need to think about. Now get them to put the mask on, spending a few moments to adjust the mask to get comfortable and to get the hair, where possible to dress the front of the mask or to cover the elastic.
