The vacant yard

The louche naked man with the COCK mask meanders about the vacant yard. Meander might be an unkind description but the movement is certainly a long way from the intended strut. It is difficult to play a role without first studying the role, do cocks really strut their stuff, or are they more background creatures searching for food and leaving the run of the yard to the hens occasionally taking centre stage to pose and battle an interloping cock. Is pecking order literal?

The louche naked man with the COCK mask wishes to research how to behave like a cock, but the nude has no pockets, no phone, no devices, no books, no research notes. This is a feeling of being naked, vulnerably naked, a self-questioning nudity: was entering the House of Masks the right decision, is this unsettling interlude part of a process of destabilisation brainwashing the vulnerable into soldiers for the cult? Or is this just a flutter, a momentary wobble, a lack of confidence that should be styled-out to prove your metal and show you are worthy of playing a role in the House of Masks. For either option the choice is the same: play the role as well as you can until you are comfortable or leave.

The louche naked man with the COCK mask chooses to stay, to examine the features of the vacant yard. It has a variety of old sculptures on plinths interspersed with newer works with faded signs including prices. Faded signs that had not been read for a long time, none with red dots. It takes a while to notice that all of the figurative sculptures are masked. In fact so are the abstract sculptures though this is less obvious. The masks vary, some clearly modelled on people with animal heads, some lifesize for the person, some lifesize for the animal. Others are more abstract, particularly the older ones. The impression is that the sculptor was working from the guests to the House of Masks and that over the years the style of mask has changed. The impression is this is a history of the House of Masks.

The louche naked man with the COCK mask stops at a sculpture of glass beads embedded in blown glass trumpets held by a diminutive figure, stopping to admire the beauty and cleverness of the design, and the interesting juxtaposition to the nature surrounding it when the tannoy announces: THE COCK AND THE JEWEL IS COMMENCING SHORTLY.

The louche naked man with the COCK mask turns to the yard and waits, hoping this will be a clue to what is really going on. Masked figures arrive from unseen doors and gates, forming groups or standing alone, gathering and reforming until they are together ready for a performance.

The louche naked man with the COCK will play the leading role, it becomes clear.

YAWN GREAT