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The origin of the theatre masks dates back to thousands of years ago.

Since women did not take part in drama at all in those days, masks would help male actors to play female roles. In those days, theatre masks were made from clay, linen, or wood. The masks had large mouths which were designed to make talking easy for the actors. Theatre masks were an integral part of ancient theatre, and as we saw earlier, they were worn by actors so as to clearly depict their emotions to every member of the audience. The two masks are paired together to show the two extremes of the human psyche. The comedy and tragedy masks serve to show us the two aspects of human emotions― the comedy mask shows us how foolish human beings can be, while the tragedy mask portrays dark emotions, such as fear, sadness, and loss. Hence, we can conclude that theatre masks indeed played an extremely important role in ancient Greek drama. Similarly, one actor could play more than one character with the help of these masks. Theatre masks allowed them to play female roles with ease. These masks also allowed actors to play characters independent of age and gender, as all the actors in ancient Greek theatre were always men. The large faces added a sense of exaggeration to the actors’ emotions, which helped them convey their emotions to the entire open-air theatre. Mythology aside, theatre masks were used by actors during performances so as to clearly depict emotions to every member of the audience, even one who was sitting in the seats far away from the stage.