Saving the Mask

Abstract

The Article defends the actor’s mask training from the reformist trends that consider the mask study to be no longer necessary or topical. The author identifies one of the causes of this attitude in the purpose of higher education in Europe that has changed in the recent years. Students are unfortunately encouraged to have employment-focused consumer behaviours, therefore are more concerned with the results than with the process of learning and personal development. Specifically, the question arises whether academic studies, theatre, in this case, are intended only for the training of future employees or, without excluding, of course, this goal, they are rather ways to model behaviours, to (in)-form the spirit, to educate critical thinking and, last but not least, to endow students with an ethos that will allow them to be, as future theatre artists, spokesmen of free expression, the “mirror of the times”? The study continues with a brief exposition of the principles, themes and benefits of mask training. In the final part, the author presents the results of a mini-survey among graduates of the Cluj theatre school, questioned about the role of mask studies in their professional careers.