Mask and Man is about identity, how it's created and of invisible opression. Performed in a concept of "natural opera" with the aim to go beyond genres to come to the core of what the expression need.

Mask and Man is both a soundexperience and a visual experience. The audience is not given many answers but perhaps questions and understanding on a suggestive level.

The audience will however meet three very concrete characters, solid in mask. Each mask has a musical theme composed around their character. The masks discover themselves which is reflected in the music. They communicate with song, but lack vocabulary. Yet, something is being said, very slowly they form a word, a name, a sentence...

The trailer is recorded in Évoramonte castle, Portugal:

The masks are made by Torbjörn Alström.
The performance and music is by and with Maria Hansson 

More about Mask&Man

I created the performance during my time as artist in residence in OBRAS foundation, Portugal. I was working with a concept I call "natural opera" and the aim has been a free voice used acoustic, without the boundaries of voiceboxes or genres. The same applies to the dancing and theatre parts, all working together in the "natural opera" concept. I have been inspired by all that comes natural to me on an individual level as well as a universal level such as nature-tones and primitive sounds like calls. The focus has been what the expression requires for sound, therefore all between belting to classical technique is presented in a musical genre 'no mans land'.

Mask and Man was originally performed and recorded in Évoramonte castle, in an abandoned marble quarry in the area and also on the residence OBRAS foundation for an encouraging audience. The exploration of these venues were also an exploration of the sites acoustics, that inspired the performance and when I was looking for a place in Sweden to adapt this performance into, Kulturtemplet with it's magnificent acoustic was the natural choice. And together with Jorge Alcaide on complementing instruments the performance gained a new dimension.