Exploring theatre makeup

Study of theatre makeup

The importance of theatre makeup.

Few people understand the great importance of theatrical makeup on stage, if it's not used the applied the right way, well, it's pointless. No face is immune to the necessity of makeup on stage, under the glare of modern day theatre lighting appears shapeless, dull and without identity. 

The function of theatre makeup.

The primary object of theatre makeup is to accentuate and enhance an actors features, and define there eyes and lips, if these were not defined the actor/actress would look featureless. Another important factor is to the face an appearance the audience would expect it to have depending on the character being portrayed. For example, if you were portraying the classic 'villain' makeup could be used to create a chiseled face, dark line, hollowed eyes. Or perhaps a 'damsel in distress', makeup could be used to create soft contours, peachy cheeks and bright eyes. 

 How to create successful theatre makeup.

Theatre makeup is an acquired skill, and to be truly brilliant at it you must work on it. It is just as much an art as painting, dancing or acting. You need to paint and sculpt the face, understand the facial structure and create your pieces using experience and imagination. You also have to analyse facial expressions like frowning and laughing, and study the lines and wrinkles that appear on the face when portraying these emotions so that you know how to recreate this through makeup.