Ludwig's Mask-As-Stage Analysis

As I sat down in my seat I did not know what expect from this play. I had never been to a play before and this would be my first time watching one. Music began to play softly and the curtains were drawn back revealing a massive stage with two set of stairs in the middle and a little orchestra at the back. The stage acted as a mask-as-frame because it drew the audience's attention to the center of the stage. It was dark, but I could still make out the musicians faces’ and observed that they changed their masks throughout the play. There was this particular violinist that changed her mask the most. At the beginning, she had her professional mask on which looked like a face made out of stone, unchanging. But as the play went on she changed her
At the start of the play two characters meet, Cliff Bradshaw and Ernst Ludwig. Both of them had their friendly and social mask on when they first met but those masks changed drastically nearing the end of the play. During Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz wedding, it was revealed that Ernst Ludwig was a nazi. As soon as this was discovered Ludwig’s mask changed into a Nazi supporting one and Bradshaw’s mask changed into one against the Nazis. Ludwig’s mask can be related to a mask-as-catalyst because as soon as he dawned on his nazi mask, he became mean, violent, and oppressive. The mask changed him from a very friendly and sociable person into a sort of tyrant. Furthermore, one of the main characters of the play, Sally Bowels, wore make up as a mask. I believe that by wearing make up, Sally has a happy mask that’s only for show when she’s working at the Kit Kat Club. When she's not wearing make up and is at home with Bradshaw, she displays her insecurity and her cluelessness with what she should do with the rest of her life. The make up as a mask can be viewed as a mask-as-transformer because every time she applies makeup to work at the Kit Kat Club, she transforms from an insecure and worried girl into a girl that is happy and loves to