I’ve always been fascinated by secret societies and masquerade balls: The idea that a room full of people can conceal itself in plain sight. There is something wonderfully theatrical about everyone wearing a mask, identities becoming uncertain, and ordinary social rules giving way to something more clandestine.
The movie, Eyes Wide Shut is an obvious modern reference, but the image also comes from years of reading medieval and Renaissance historical fiction, where masked balls, secret gatherings, intrigue and whispered conspiracies seemed to exist just behind the visible world.
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