The Final Act: On the Limitations of the "Mask-of-Aging" Dramaturgical Metaphor in Representing the Performing Self

The purpose of this article is to challenge the congruity of dramaturgical metaphors, especially in the mask-of-aging thesis among older actors, and to explore what these metaphors represent for them late in their careers. The case study is a group of veteran actors in the Israeli theater who subscribe to the Method acting approach. In-depth interviews were conducted from 2007 to 2009 with 22 such actors, aged 62 to 95 years, on the topic of their acting profession. The data suggest that actors make no distinction between performative self and interior self in their attempts to define their selves. In contrast to theory, the actors' work abets a reversed structure of the self in the acting arena. An actor or actress experiences a correspondence between the mask ("front stage") and the way in which he or she talks to himself or herself ("back stage"). The author discusses the importance of the performing self for self-esteem under contemporaneous social circumstances.