Helen Barnett of Trestle Theatre Co. leads Trestle Mask Workshop at DC

Posted by Carla Acepcion

---

On Thursday 7 June, DC was exceptionally lucky to be able to host Helen Barnett, a workshop leader and actor from Trestle Theatre company, UK. Trestle has been a leading theatre company since the 80’s, specialising in mask work performances and even producing their own range of masks. Almost every Drama department around the world owns a box of these magical masks, and we are no exception. ESF Drama staff had the opportunity to train with Helen for a day, in a staff professional development day, and to complete our curriculum unit on mask work, Helen ran workshops with all the students in Year 8.

The students worked on identifying the emotions of the mask, creating characters physically, clocking the audience, and even attempted counter-mask (where you can change the perception of the emotion on the mask through using your body)! The students had a great time and learned much to take back into our unit of inquiry.

Many thanks to Helen, who was a fun and engaging workshop leader.