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Masked Performance: The Play of Self and Other in Ritual and Theatre

Article  in  Asian Theatre Journal · November 1999

DOI: 10.2307/1124134

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Review
Reviewed Work(s): Masked Performance: The Play of Self and Other in Ritual and Theatre
by John Emigh
Review by: Kathy Foley
Source: Asian Theatre Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Autumn, 1998), pp. 295-296
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124134
Accessed: 13-05-2019 18:27 UTC

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BOOK REVIEWS 295

ferent
ferent literary
literary
and and
performance
performance
genres come
genres
together
cometotogether
reconsiderto
the
r
of
of the
theChinese
Chinese femmefemmefatale,
fatale,
Pan Jinlian.
Pan Jinlian.
When characters
When such
charac
as
Anna
AnnaKarenina
Karenina or Jia
or Baoyu
Jia Baoyu
from the
from Qingthe
novel
Qing
Dream
novel
of the
Dream
Red
enter
enterthetheplay,
play,eacheach
singssings
in a non-chuanju
in a non-chuanju
musical style.
musical
Although
sty
that
thatKarenina
Karenina singssings
"an opera
"an opera
aria" (p.aria"
120), (p.
she 120),
does not
she mention
does nt
written
written in in
thethe
stylestyle
of European
of European
operaticoperatic
music or that
musicJia or
Baoyu's
that
sung
sungusing
using music
musicfrom from
the popular
the popular
ShanghaiShanghai
yueju tradition.
yuejuThetrad
Sh
yueju
yuejufilm
film
version
version
of The
of Dream
The Dream
of the Red
of Chamber
the Red story
Chamber
is wellstory
known
and
andthe
thecharacter
character
of Baoyu
of Baoyu
is closely
is closely
associatedassociated
with this xiqu
with form.
thi
only
onlythe
themere
mereintroduction
introduction
of theseofnontraditional
these nontraditional
characters tochar
the
lian
lianstory
storythat
that
makes
makes
Wei Minglun's
Wei Minglun's
play so unique,
play so
butunique,
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var
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musical styles
styles
usedused
within
within
the production
the production
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xiqu
a single
form. xiqu f
These
Thesesmall
small
issues
issues
aside,
aside,
Shiao-ling
Shiao-ling
Yu's anthology
Yu's anthology
is an important
is an
tribution
tribution to to
Chinese
Chinese
theatre
theatre
scholarship.
scholarship.
Unfortunately
Unfortunately
the price of
Drama
DramaAfter
Afterthethe
Cultural
Cultural
Revolution
Revolution
($109.95) ($109.95)
all but precludes
all butthis
preclu
work
becoming
becoming a standard
a standard
text for
textcollege
for college
courses on
courses
modernon Chinese
modern
liter
theatre.
theatre. AAnewnew
addition
addition
to ourto
schools'
our schools'
library collections
library collection
is perhaps
future
future wewe
cancan
hope
hope
for Shiao-ling
for Shiao-ling
Yu's fineYu's
work.
fine work.

SUSAN
SUSAN PERTEL
PERTEL
JAIN
JAIN
Connecticut
Connecticut College
College

MASKED PERFORMANCE: THE PLAY OF SELF AND OTHER IN

RITUAL AND THEATRE byJohn Emigh. Philadelphia: U

sylvania Press, 1996. 336 pp. + illus. Cloth $38.95; paper

John Emigh brings two modes of inquiry to his discuss

mance: the research methodology of a scholar ethnologi
rience of a practitioner. The result is a book that both s
ers will find illuminating. While giving well-documented
traditions of India, Indonesia, and (to a lesser extent) N
intriguing issues about mask performance in particular
Add to this his ability to discuss topics as wide ranging
interculturalism, and postmodern theory in a style that
book performers and scholars will want to read.
The text begins with the contrast between the mas
Western culture-which Emigh considers a "cosmeti
mask as he found it in areas of New Guinea and Asia, wh
an instrument of revelation, giving form to the ineff
nexus between the individual and those communally d
shape one's sense of human possibilities" (p. 7). Using co
oped byJohan Huizinga and the idea of transitional ob
British psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott, he sees masks
forming fear into pleasure. When Emigh is on theoretic
develops interesting ideas which, even when the reader

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 296 BOOK REVIEWS

with the interpretation, push deep into the issues explored. His approach
congruences with Victor Turner and Richard Schechner, theorists who
ideas he discusses cogently.
When Emigh deals with a specific artistic tradition he has studie
extensively, he is at his best. His discussions of demonic masks is powerf
he shows how, in the Pralada Nataka of Orissa and the Barong-Rangda
frontation of Bali, destructive aspects are danced and, in a homeopa
mode, the demonic mask becomes a protection for the social group
attempts to draw clear historical lines between East India and Bali, in
period when these masks may have emerged, are ambitious. Strict causali
ultimately impossible to prove; however, the evidence of common dep
dence on tantric thought which infuses the Hindu-Buddhist mix that cam
Indonesia and, ultimately, Bali is apropos. The extensive historical link t
Emigh uncovers between East India and Bali shows considerable researc
and states the case more compellingly than I have seen in other histor
sources. His essay on Kakul, the great Balinese topeng master of the 1960
1970s is especially strong. The fine writing and sensitive interpretation o
that transpires lets us "see" a topeng performance. For those who do not spe
Balinese or understand the genre, this piece is a Rosetta stone that can
a world of topeng.
An essay on the work of Schechner and postmodern theory segu
nicely into a discussion of Hajari Bhand, a jester-impersonator of Rajast
An interview byJames Schevill of Emigh himself allows the author to unmas
and reveal how his research has affected his own work. In his final chapter h
discusses Western theatre pieces such as Jatinder Verma's Tartuffe (by
English director of Maharastran descent), Peter Brook's Mahabharata,
Anna Deveare Smith's projects. Emigh concludes: "The masked perform
in moving from persona to persona, weaving narratives, finding humor,
erating new ways to put thoughts together, and maintaining balance in
of difference, exemplifies and, ultimately, celebrates a remarkable hu
capacity-one that is needed for survival and sanity. If we can gain acces
its truths, the mask may well be a powerful tool in reclaiming not only
theatre, but our lives" (pp. 289-291).
While readers who have followed Emigh's work will recognize that
is often expanding on his articles in Asian TheatreJournal, World of Music,
The Drama Review, they will be pleased to find new passages and new in
pretations. The introductions to the essays weave them together, and
book adds up to more than the sum of its parts. By holding up selected m
and pressing them against the reader's face, Emigh gives a sense of how
mask can stretch and extend performers. One feels that Emigh has by
means completed his journey, but he has certainly made some remark
discoveries. Minor problems with spelling and place-names will be resolv
one hopes, in a subsequent edition.

KATHY FOLEY

University of California-Santa Cruz

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