THE PRINCESS MASK AND ITS TRANSFORMATION - PART 4

By Rita Grimaldi                           

Rehearsing On My Own And With Others - Changes In The Mask, Costume, and Story 

·       The Mask

A new mask often needs adjustment to make it who it should be. As I rehearsed wearing the Princess mask, I came to both feel and see that it was not quite right.

One morning, in order to soften the expression of the mask, I decided to repaint the mouth and above the eyes.

The Princess mask before painting

                             The mask after repainting

See how the repainting makes the Princess’s lips look softer and happier. And how the red lines above the eyes make the eyes clearer.

·       The Costume

The soot dress segment of the story (see Part 2) is a difficult section to tell. I realized that one of the difficulties in telling it was that with the veil over the small holes in the Princess mask’s eyes, I could not see the audience. So I decided to make a second veil - one that I could see through. I did this because as a storyteller it is really important for me to see and respond to the expressions on the faces of the audience.

I remember once hearing a famous storyteller who told a story with his eyes shut. When he was done, I put up my hand and I asked why he told with his eyes shut. He answered that he told this way because it allowed him to better concentrate on the text of the story.

But this is not my way of storytelling. I don’t want to only concentrate on the story.  I want to concentrate on making the story a shared experience between the audience and myself. Seeing the audience’s facial expressions tells me how they are experiencing the story. Always my goal is that the story will reach them on an emotional level. By seeing their faces – especially through the focused holes of the mask – I will know if I have reached my goal of emotional involvement.

Here are the images of the two veils. The second veil has very little obstruction to seeing the audience. For me, this makes for much better communication of the story.

The original veil

The new veil

I discovered that I needed help with changing the costumes.

In our first group rehearsal, the other storytellers suggested I have help with the costume changes. The story requires three changes of clothing which is also layered. This layering is difficult to do on my own. So I decided to have a table and mirror set up at the side of the stage. And to have one of the other storytellers be my dresser while another of the storytellers plays music on her harp.

·       The Story

The section in which the Troll beats the Prince needs to be told with emotion. But fairy tales don’t usually use emotionally laden language. But for this version of the story, my feeling is that the audience needs to know why the Princess weeps over the Prince after the Troll leaves. And equally, the audience needs to know what she feels when the Troll beats the Prince.

So based on my rehearsal experiences,  here is what I now have the Princess say –

There was nothing I could do but stand and watch.

I was afraid for myself and for the Prince.

I was afraid that the Troll would kill him and then I would be left alone in my soot blackness.

But when the sun was about to rise, the Troll left.

And I went over to my beloved the Prince.

And seeing his wounds and his pain, I began to weep over him.

And by some magic, as soon as my tears touched his wounds,

They were healed and his pain went away.

Looking at the right side of my body,

I saw that it was as white as silver.

Now I had some hope for the future.

And my Prince and I rejoiced at this hope.

Now I feel that the mask, my costume, and the story are ready for performance.

Part 5 will tell about my experience of performing my version of ‘The Bird In The Linden Tree’.