The longer you wear your mask, the harder it will be to take it off
What fate will Iphigenia choose when she is given a choice for the very first time? How can we stop the hands that control us, and who will tell the puppets about them so that puppet plays are no longer exclusively sad? The stories of Greek mythology were written thousands of years ago, yet their themes remain painfully relevant to this very day. The students from South Korea created a play that merges Greek myths with traditional Korean puppet theatre (Deolmi), in which puppets are manipulated by the napes of their necks. That’s where the play found its title – The Nape.
This performance combines acting with puppetry, incorporating elements such as masks and shadow play. The shadows are created by a spotlight shining from the back of the stage onto a large fabric screen stretched across the center of the performance space. In this way, the actors introduce the context before each act, and the main action then unfolds directly in front of the audience. The play consists of three acts, each focusing on a character from the plays of the ancient Greek playwright Euripides – Iphigenia, Clytemnestra, and Electra.
The actors’ movements are highly stylized, their walk is unnatural, their hands form large theatrical gestures. After each action, however, they return to the same starting position, as if they were actual puppets being held by the nape. This heightened theatricality therefore serves a purpose, and I consider it well-developed and crucial to a performance centered primarily on physical acting. Each character also has specific gestures that they repeatedly use in different situations, further defining their personalities. Achilles (Baek Subin), for example, embodies the image of an invincible warrior by standing with his hands on his hips and proudly lifting his head, before moving again and showing off his strength by flexing his biceps. Iphigenia (Lee Seunghyun), on the other hand, appears somewhat timid, with her hands constantly raised in front of her, palms outward, as if trying to avoid conflict and choosing instead to obey .
The costumes consist of loose white trousers and a wrap-around shirt of the same colour. This is the basic outfit of the vaguely-defined servants, completed by a white mask covering the upper half of their face. More sharply-defined characters wear an additional layer of vibrant, unique garments over this white base, with each costume unique, as are the masks depicting vague, non-human creatures. This differentiation, along with specific gestures, helps clarify character identities, something made necessary by the fact that some actors portray multiple roles. It also allows actors to play characters of different genders, highlighting the contrast between how someone appears on the outside and the person hiding behind the mask. The only character without a mask is Electra (Go Junsu), symbolizing her refusal to be controlled like a puppet.
The masks also reference the traditional Korean masked dance (Talchum). Iphigenia, for instance, performs this dance during the ceremonial ritual in which she is to be executed. At the end of the ritual, she removes her mask, symbolizing her death (though in the original myth she is saved by the goddess Artemis). The same symbolism is used to depict the death of Agamemnon (Lee Yongsub), whose “head” holds the hand of his murderer—his wife, Clytemnestra (An Hojin). The cycle of vengeance is completed when Orestes stabs his own mother, then throws away her mask. Her role as an invincible ruler is over. She lived in character for so long that without this “second face” of hers, there is nothing left of her at all.
