"Masks and Change Agent Roles"

27 Feb 2001

The Lion, Hampton Wick

This was simply an opportunity to explore how Masks, as used in the theatre, can teach us about ourselves, the roles we play and new ways to release creativity in organisations.

Roddy Maude-Roxby, who joined the Harmons in leading our Theatre Games day last April, is an actor who has worked with Masks for many years. Terri McNerney went to see Roddy's work recently at the Museum of the Unknown in London and was impressed. Together they put together an approach to the day.

Keith Johnstone writing about the use of Masks in theatre says: "Masks seem to produce changes in personality and whilst in most social situations you are encouraged to maintain a consistent personality, in a Mask class you are encouraged to let go and allow yourself to become possessed." Johnstone describes Charlie Chaplin's tramp outfit as a kind of Mask that created itself as Chaplin first reached into the wardrobe for various contradictory items such as baggy pants and tight coat. Chaplin said "the clothes and make-up made me feel the kind of person he (the tramp) was. He ignited all sorts of crazy ideas in me that I would never have dreamed up until I was dressed as the tramp". In Mask work people report their perceptions are more intense, feeling a little disturbed when they glimpse themselves in the mirror, and that although they see differently, they also seem to see and sense more.

As is becoming usual at NI meetings there was a mixture of familiar faces (Eva, Fiona, Garth, Jo, John Wilkes, Julie, Paul, Tony, Uly), new people (Becky, Cameron, Cathy, Eve, Hazel, Richard, Rownella), not forgetting of course Terri and Roddy!

Rather than introducing masks at the start, Roddy enrolled us in some awareness exercises as preparation. First we were walking around the room with our faces relaxed and expressionless, just noticing each other. Terri remembers finding this uncomfortable and wanting to smile, and get smiles back because it felt rude not too. When people show a neutral face, we don't know what that means, and so we can fear the worst and project our fears onto that neutral face. Others had different reactions, feeling more relaxed with neutral faces, making some deeper contact when freed from the need to smile. And then we were in a "camera" exercise, walking round in pairs, one with eyes closed, the guide deciding when to press shutter, and just for an instant the eyes can open, take a picture and close again. Since everyone was moving, the pictures were not a very good guide to where obstructions were and we had all sorts of fun, confusions and near collisions!

Roddy set out a line of 5 chairs facing the rest of us and asked for 5 volunteers who moved into the seats and closed their eyes. Roddy dug in his suitcase, carefully selected and placed a full face mask on each volunteer. Then he began moving, clicking his fingers and making shrieking noises like some sort of bird, which caused the masks to move, turning their heads in his direction. The volunteers were allowed to open their eyes, and they moved their heads, looking to take in their colleagues' appearance still without knowing the mask they were wearing. The masks got out of their seats, walked around, played a bit, looked for friends to pair up with.

After perhaps 5 minutes wearing the masks, volunteers took them off, finding out who they had been, and talking about the experience. Terri was amazed at how quickly the masks and the people became one: as if the mask was exactly the 'right one' for each person, and tapped into a part for that person. A part that some liked and others didn't, but somehow a part that was waiting to be recognised. It was also interesting how many volunteers commented on how the audience reacted and how this helped them become more or less comfortable with the mask.

Tony while wearing his mask remembers Roddy offering a tamborine, a coconut rattle and a doll, ending up with the rattle which he didn't want and really, really wanting the tamborine that Roddy had given to his colleague. These were strong feelings. And as he played with the rattle, the audience seemed to react with laughter, which was a little bewildering. Someone else felt disappointed the audience did not seem to react to them. When Tony took off his mask he realised it was a bright blue joker's face.

The exercise raised all sorts of questions about how we function in everyday life. Do we value ourselves based on others reactions to us? Also because we didn't know what mask we were wearing, is this similar to the fact that we don't know how others see us, and it's only by their reaction to us, that we are given a clue? Does the mask drive us, or do we drive the mask? Does the way others see us and respond to us, influence our behaviours, or does the way we feel inside influence the way others see us?

When everyone had had a turn with full face masks we stopped for lunch. We had seen a variety of masks from almost human with expressions, to neutral/expressionless like porcelain dolls, to the much more vivid, colourful, scary masks perhaps Aztec or worn by African witchdoctors or Borneo headhunters. Tony was taken aback by how much the mask affected his feelings and receptiveness towards the wearer. Terri noted "This reminded me of a diversity exercise I took part in a few years ago,when we were asked to pair up with someone we didn't know and to tell each other what we had assumed about the other person. It was scary! The guy I was with had found I reminded him of an ex manager he'd had a bad experience with and so he didn't like me at all, he'd projected all his feelings for her, onto me. I had assumed a number of things about him, of which less than 50% were true - it's like we have internal videos playing and we project them ont others all the time".

After lunch Roddy showed us how he works with people whose states have been affected by wearing masks. This is some kind of healing process drawing from NLP. Earlier wearing a mask had produced some a strong, perhaps disturbing feeling in Paul, and he volunteered to let Roddy work with him, to neutralise the feeling. The process is described in Roddy's handout (attached below, see "Spatial Anchor and Full Mask"). Eva commented "I thought Roddy was really very good indeed as a facilitator, a very sympathetic individual. The most moving thing for me was Paul's anchoring - very brave of him I thought"

Roddy also demonstrated Meta Mirror, as a kind of conflict resolution process using an example of conflict/misunderstanding between him and his brother. And we practised a method called Piece of Cake whereby we can bring an easy, capable attitude to activities we find difficult or anxiety provoking (both described in handout below). Reflecting on this afterwards Roddy wrote "Richard said it was difficult to select a good 'piece of cake state' and I realised afterwards that he was in that state as he spoke. It was that state that allowed everybody to be 'at ease with engagement'".

As a second experiment with masks Roddy gave us the chance to wear half masks which of course enable the wearers to speak more easily than full masks. Selecting volunteers and masks as before, Roddy then animated us by asking questions like "Who are you?" "What is your name?" "What are you doing?" "Why don't you sing something?" "What do you want to tell us?" and the answers just came. Garth (can't remember his mask name) was digging, frantically. He and the masks were one. His voice was strong and characterful. His digging seemed real, motivated, important to him.Tony with half mask on became Fred. He was flying. He wanted to tell everyone they're all wearing masks all the time. And when Tony took his mask off, he found it was a red devil mask, and was rather surprised and bewildered by how strongly the mask might have influenced the audience, and altered the communication/relationship.

How can we use this in our work?

• swap masks to act out the sterotypes in a project team eg. builder, architect, accountant, giving voice to all the most comic or irritating things
• a special 360 degree feedback process
• pick the expressive mask you need to face a difficult situation
• do 6 thinking hats with 6 masks
• wear the devil's advocate mask
• use masks to overcome the not invented here syndrome
• provide a truth teller mask
• offer stakeholder masks
• the opposite of mask-like focus: remember to engage peripheral vision - to overcome performance anxiety
• tap into the power of not knowing the mask you are wearing
• in consultant development, get beyond client/consultant masks to authentic phase
• paint a mask for the worst and best aspect of yourself
• paint masks for each of the important energies needed in a team
• mask of the chief exec
• mask of madonna
• mask of anyone to ask the dumb questions
• leave masks lying around the room until people start picking them up and playing with them
• in mergers use masks to get beyond separateness
• as storytelling mask
• whose line is it anyway - the partyholder mask
• masks on a stick vs a mask which takes you over
• masks just as intro to another level of awareness, to a trance, to bring out the inner child
• there's a freedom - I can hide behind the mask

Closing thoughts and reflections

In the days following the session, several people offered their reflections:

• "What a fabulous day on Tuesday - thank you so much for organising it Terri and for so generously sharing your skills, Roddy. I think it was our biggest NI meeting yet! I found the process fascinating and very thought provoking. I like the notion of masks facilitating communication/openness, and not just acting as barriers to authenticity. It was great that you allowed plenty of space for us to process individual thoughts/feelings/reactions...the variety of responses produced so much learning. I felt the way you worked with the group, Roddy, was very respectful and at the same time operated at quite a deep level. It was great to watch you work, and to feel the trust building in the room.I don't feel I've begun to really process everything that went on, other than to acknowledge that it was a truly memorable day."



• "I felt completely engrossed and engaged with the days activities. As I said on the day the heightened awareness and focus without 'trying' to focus will be something I will work on myself and will share with my clients.I would like to explore the approach further particulary with a view to applying it to my 1:1 work on personal development/self confidence building. Thanks to Terri and Roddy for putting together the day."



• "Apart from it being an interesting experience, the key messages for me were:-
  1. Projection: It was extraordinary to see what & how people projected onto the mask. Their interpretation of the experience
  2. The sheer diversity of experience amongst a relatively narrow self-selected group. It was lesson for me in facilitation, just how much you need to check that people have got the same thing, and are in the same place.
  3. It provided an interesting forum for considering the benefits of anonymity and externalising a problem"



• "Inspiring day! Haven't stopped talking about the masks since. My particular fascination was how these voices from behind the masks can come from unexpected places.Indeed I think that's their strength. If you think of the Johari's window for the group, then it's the two windows on the right that they can peer through with sudden bursts of clarity. My (red) devil's advocate would therefore say: I don't think making them into predetermined characters or roles would work as well because in Roddy's words, "with the masks there's room for spirits to get in and out". As for my anchoring experience I was moved - and not sure why or how. I felt a warmth at the end of the process I hadn't anticipated. It was uncanny how Roddywas able to pull the exact sound I needed from the bag! I've tried recalling the sound though and I'm finding that quite difficult. I'm planning to get a gong though! Regards to all, and a big thank you to Roddy and Terri."



• "My own thoughts on masks were really how masks can provide an instant "alter ego" or even a new identity- it allows one to say things one usually cannot say with one's real face. As such I can see it as an alternative to the allegorical "he said../she said../ they said..". Secondly, it can offer a safe environment for ideas to be tested- the testing audience assumes masks of "stakeholders" and can then ask things/voice doubts which a team member couldn't."



• "Another theme that struck me, was how some people became much freer in wearing the mask, and felt able to do things that they wouldn't normally do. I have a strong interest in the idea of 'being authentic', and so when I first thought about masks, I'd thought of it as removing the masks we wear, to reveal the 'real' us. Now I'm thinking of how masks can help us express things we wouldn't normally say or do. So what masks are helpful for the different situations we find ourselves in?"


Thanks again to Roddy for the session, Uly for scanning in Roddy's notes, Fiona for helping us figure out how to provide lunch and to The Lion for providing their funtion room at such short notice.

Terri McNerney and Tony Page
March 2001



Read Roddy's notes



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