Hungarian Buso (pronounced “Busho”), like other members of the worldwide mummers' family, roam the villages of the southern region of the country every February, celebrating the end of winter and the return of new life in the spring. It is a lucrative tourist attraction, having recently extended from the traditional weekend to an event of several days. There is an increased interest in joining the groups of masked performers. Music, dance, full scale masks and the array of food and drink make for an atmosphere of family festival. Yet there is an edge to proceedings, something that seems to attract the 21st century agnostic as it did their forebears hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. What is it?
Using observations from Marvin Carlson, Richard Schechner, Eugenio Barba and Richard Southern, I'll try to place the Buso as a masked performer on the continuum between cultural and theatrical practice, trying to identify the means by which the paradoxical, intoxicating quality of Otherness is created in this case through disrupting the conventional norms of space and movement. In particular, I will look at the way in which child performers, traditionally part of the event, contribute to this effect. The indescribable yet palpable sense of danger created by the Buso's "little helpers" might provide a physical clue to understanding the relationship of visible audience and masked performer, a key aspect for example of such current debates as playing the yard in Globe-type theatres.