Chris Vervain Mask Theatre

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My research towards a Doctorate at Royal Holloway College London  was on the use of mask in Greek tragedy. It involved performance based work with actors, using the masks I make in the light of the available evidence on the ancient tragic mask, but adapted to be wearable and usable in modern production conditions.  The images on this page show drawings of two of the ancient artefacts that I have studied in preparing the mask designs.
Mask Research
Some of the research findings have been presented in lectures, accompanied by performance demonstrations, at conferences in the University of London, such as the Postgraduate symposia jointly organized by Royal Holloway and the Archive Of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, University of  Oxford. I have given illustrated lectures and practical mask workshops at schools and colleges and at the the Bloomsbury Theatre  of University College London. 
Chris Vervain,  'Performing Ancient Drama in Mask: the Case of Greek New Comedy'.  New Theatre Quarterly, 79 (August 2004), p 245 - 264.
 
Chris Vervain and David Wiles, 'The Masks of  Greek Tragedy as Point of  Departure for Modern Performance', New Theatre Quarterly, 67 (August 2001), p 254 - 272.
 
Chris Vervain, 'Three Electras and the Multivalent Mask,' Didaskalia. Vol 7. Issue 1
http://www.didaskalia.net/issues/vol7 no1/vervain.html
 
Chris Vervain, 'The Masked Chorus in Action: Staging Euripides Bacchae,' Didaskalia, Vol. 8 (2011).
http://www.didaskalia.net/issues/8/13/ 
 
Chris Vervain, 'Performing Ancient Drama in Mask: the Case of Greek Tragedy, ' New Theatre Quarterly / Volume 28 / Issue 02 / May 2012, pp 163 - 181
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=NTQ#
 
Chris Vervain  Performing Greek Tragedy in Mask: text, (2022). Based on PhD Thesis, University of London.(2008) .
 
Research Publications