Theatre Design & Technology - Feb 1972 - 25

STAGE MAKEUP:

AGING

HERMAN BUCHMAN
Excerpted from the book, Stage
Makeup, by Herman Buchman,
published by Watson-Guptill Publications, with kind permission of
the author and publisher.

At maturity, the body is generally at its
finest and healthiest. The muscles are
strong and resilient, and the skin is firm
and taut. Aging begins after the individual
achieves full mature growth. It is a slow,
progressive process and requires a good
number of years to effect an appreciable
change. The muscles become softer, more
flaccid, less elastic, and the skin slowly
stretches. This stretched skin still covers
the same bone and muscle frame as in the
younger years so that the excess skin begins to fall into the bony crevices of the
face to form hollows. Where the bone is
prominent, the skin sags into folds of flesh,
forming what we call wrinkles, bags,
pouches, or jowls.
As the performer, you must determine
what phase of the aging process relates to
your role, and adapt the appropriate makeup
techniques to convey the age of your part.
The first signs of "aging" become evident in the late twenties. We consider the
late twenties to about forty years the start
of the aging process, forty to sixty years as
the developed aging process, and sixty
years and over as extreme old age.
Under Forty Years Old
The early stage of aging is the most difficu It to convey through makeup. It demands
a very slight indication of the aging process.
There may be a beginning of the sinking
process in the temple and cheek area, and
a beginning of the aging around the eyes,
plus a slight nose wrinkle.
All too frequently when actors allempt to
communicate the start of age in the character they are playing, they fall into a ridiculous stereotype and apply gray to the temples, lines across the forehead, crow's feet
at the corner of the eyes, and call that a
makeup job! Although it is possible for an
individual forty years or younger to have
gray hair, no one of that age has yet developed absurd wrinkles across the forehead.
You must learn to recognize the slight,
almost imperceptible differences that occur
in the human face over the years and use
makeup technique judiciously. Observe

THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

older people around you and look for sagging corners around the mouth, loss of
teeth, thinning hair, gaining weight.
Makeup Base for Age
There is no specific makeup base for a
category as broad as age. An aging person
may have skin color in any range of human
skin tones. Select your color according to
the total demands of the part, the size of
the theatre, and the effect of the lights.
In order to demonstrate the application of
age makeup, use a dark tan hard stick. It
is a good color to show the contrast of your
shadow and highlight work, and it will give
you practice in handling hard stick, but
don't get into the habit of always associating this color or this type base with age.
It is fine if the part you are playing calls for
a ruddy, robust, dark tan color, but only if
you think it is appropriate on those terms.
Get in the habit of using a variety of colors for your skin tone in age and adjust
your shadow highlight colors accordingly.
Shadows
There are many possible shadow mixtures which you can properly use for the
aging process. For practice purposes, we
will use a mixture of one part maroon soft
liner to two parts brown soft liner. This
shadow mixture works well for many stage
makeups. Don't hesitate to alter it even if
you feel that it's too brown, too red, or too
dark. You must learn to adjust all of these
colors to your needs.
Highlights
As in shadows, highlights come in a great
range of colors. For practice purposes, I
suggest you use a hard stick whitish yellow.
You will find it appropriate for a good range
of highlight purposes and you can always
mix it with other colors to adjust to your
needs. And, again, it will give you practice
in handling a hard stick highlight.
Applying the Base
Cleanse the face with cream to remove
any soot, grime, or cosmetic. Remove the
cream gently, and take off even the faintest
film on the skin. The skin must feel clean,
smooth, but without any trace of grease.
First, remove the hard grease paint stick
from its cardboard container. Then remove
the cellophane paper cover from the top
half of the stick. Using the blunt. frolll end
of the stick, apply a wide streak of pailll
across the top of the forehead, another
across the center of the forehead, and a
third above the eyebrow. Apply a streak

FEBRUARY, 1972

down the nose, across each of the cheekbones, across the upper lip, across the
chin, the line of the jaws, and a few
streaks down the neck. Now, with the
fingertips, gently spread this color so that
it covers all surfaces of the face evenly and
is also lightly carried into the hairline. Once
it is spread evenly, the color will have no
Iight, dry splotchy areas, or darker, excessively greasy areas.
Now cleanse your fingertips with tissues
and then dampen the fingers and palms of
your hand with water. Without rubbing,
gently pat the face, until all of the excess
grease is removed from the face and is on
the palms of your hands. If you have applied too much base, cleanse your hands
and repeat this process.
After the excess grease is removed, the
skin should have the color you desire and a
natural skin tone as well. There should be
enough of the paint on the skin to make it
easier to work on. Too little base will show
as a splotchy uneven skin tone, and too
much will smear.
Sinking the Temple
With your fingertip, feel the edge of the
temple bone and follow its path as it goes
from the corner of the eye up into the hairline. Become familiar with its placement.
With your fingertips, gently pat the shadow
into place, following the bottom edge of the
temple bone (Figures 7 and 2).
Cleanse your finger and, with a gentle
patting, blend the shadow back towards,
but not into the hairline (Figure 3).
Sinking the Cheek
With the fingertip, feel out the depression between the cheekline and the jawbone. It is not a sharp, sudden sinking-like
the temple-but a gradual sinking from the
height of the cheekbone into the hole
(occupied by the back teeth), and then out
onto the jaw. Since this area is covered by
flesh, the sinking is actually not so dramatic. It will be about 1" to 1'/2' in length
between the cheek and jaw and, when fully
blended, will be less than 1" in width.
With the fillgertip, apply shadow to this
area (Figure 4). Clean your ginger, then
blend the top hal f up and off into the base,
and the bottom half down and off into the
base (Figure 5l.
The Nose Wrinkle
The nose wrinkle has a width of varying
size. It begills at the edge of the nostril
line, gradually widens to its widest poilll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Feb 1972