Makeup
Makeup and prosthetics can turn a young person into someone decades older. It can create literal monsters, or give them a desirable, glamorous look. But it has another purpose. When the audience sees an actor on stage, there is a distance between them. The actor is also awash in bright lights. Between the distance and the lights, the actor’s face can appear washed out. Stage makeup exaggerates their features to define them, so they can be seen from anywhere in the audience.
Up close, it looks overdone, but from a distance, it appears exactly right. Many actors and dancers have perfected their own makeup techniques and do it for themselves rather than waiting for a makeup artist. Some cannot, especially if special effects makeup or prosthetics are involved. This image shows a group of actors doing their own makeup for Alfred Hayes’ show, The Girl on the Via Flaminia.
