THE INNER LIFE OF MASK

If earlier performances of theatre Maska i Pokret confirmed that the mask is a THEATRICAL MEANS, that is, a sign that develops through the action, and not a finished art form, then “Mme Leopoldine’s Memoires” shows that the mask also has its “INNER” LIFE. The character (mask) is no longer merely an instrument of action, its “physical sign”, but also the creator of its own destiny.
The Leopoldine mask is already expressing a dominant psychic state in its artistic design. As this expression is fixed and does not change as in the case of a live actor, the movement here also gets a new function. In “Leopoldine” the movement nuances and varies the psychological value of the “inner life” of the mask.
By choosing the basic “mood” of the mask, the authors suggest the emotional attitude of the viewer towards the character and events. In other words, by doing so, they suggest to the viewer one possible (or: only possible) feeling of the world.

TRAGICOMIC DUALITY OF THE PERFORMANCE

Neither mask, movement, nor music have semantic autonomy in their performances; only by intertwining their expressive possibilities it comes to fruition a new, from reality not imitated, but that why precisely deeper stage reality (comes true).
Hence the tragicomic duality of the play, its “cruel joy”, its extraordinary ability to cancel out the cruel details (such as killing dolls) with comic relief and to show the comic details (such as “falling unconscious of fatigue” when cleaning the stain from the floor) to the full extend of the cruelty that comic always imply (because when she falls unconscious of fatigue, Leopoldina acts like an insect, like Kafka’s Gregor Samsa).
This grotesque ambivalence, simultaneously tragedy and comicality of the play shows that, on the architectonic level, “Mme Leopoldine’s Memoires” achieves a very high degree of unity and a maximum measure of internal consistency.