Ruby Moon is a gothic fairytale, with the play repeatedly drawing on the familiar tale of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. A parent's worst nightmare is to have lost their child, especially if the neighbor is assumed to have been involved.
"The child randomly taken from our midst is an all-too-common tragedy which threatens us in a deeply primal way' (Matt Cameron).In using this element of a crippled fairy-tale with the added form of heightened naturalism, there is the constant essence of fears of contemporary suburbia, woods and wolves, of strangers taking what is most precious o people, this effectively has an uncomfortable and unsettling impact on the audience as they are positioned and confronted with the ideas of how bad society could be, and invites them to wonder and relate it back to their own lives and own children.Cameron describes the setting of the play as being "timeless and placeless. " With not specifying where it is, when it was and essentially saying that all of this could happen to anyone. Cameron states "that the play is as much about what is unseen as that which is seen. The use of a solitary spotlight on an actor on an otherwise dark stage draws our eyes to the character and the story they tell within that light, but it also makes us wonder about the darkness, what do we imagine is lurk in that darkness? The Ruby mannequin stands under the street lamp with the moon hovering", the moon symbolisms the ominous indicator of night along with the street only being lit dimly by streetlamps and the Ruby mannequin which is essentially used in desperate hope of extracting information from their neighbors.
Sounds of "distant thunder rumbling and rain falling, a scandalous of whistling wind, the echoing of wind chimes and a creaky tree, together with the darkness and thoughts of a taken child, create a sinister atmosphere, of extreme suffering and deepens that sense of unease and fear amongst the audience.This play is a gothic fairytale, like all fairytale it has at its heart a central truth of possibility. The audience is confronted with the greatest of fears, given this Cameraman's treatment to the audience is a truthful trauma that is reality. The strength of the play emanates from this fear and elaborates on it with the use of dramatic forms and techniques, in order of making an ordinary, fearful situation, not so ordinary, unreal and distorted.Cameron has created archetype characters, which is very much a gothic fairytale approach to the play. Ray and Sylvie neighbors are examples of these types of characters; they each have their own aspect of society in which they represent.
However heightened naturalism has developed these characters in being highly exaggerated and in not showing much more than what is seen on the surface. Ray and Sylvie on the other hand allow for a deeper connection with their characters.This is because each of the characters reflects something about Ray and Sylvie, allowing them to play out hidden aspects of themselves, which were not obvious. The close knitted community that we associate with the suburban dream is not present in this suburb, rather Ray and Sylvie forced interaction with each of their neighbors reveals a society of loneliness and isolated individuals. At the start of the lay, to what we believe is Just an ordinary suburban street, becomes nothing less than a surrealist carnival of characters.
Cameron takes the image of an ordinary street and makes it more interesting by creating a nightmarish conceit extending far beyond what is ever expected. The repetitious use of "the sound of a distorted music- box version of Greensville" reinforces that eerie atmosphere, the effect of 'distorted' music playing adds to that image of something Just not right, not ordinary, that this isn't the 'dream' suburb at all, effectively being ironic.The constant knocking at the doors, the naive piano refrain, the sound of a needle on a scratchy gramophone, the lullaby played on a music box and the distorted sound of Ruby giggling are all used to create an ominous atmosphere along with heightened dramatic tension, putting the audience on the edge of their seats. The play is a world created by Ray and Sylvie, a fabrication and an elaboration of their imaginations.
Ruby Moon, written by Matt Cameron and A Beautiful Life written by Michael Fetcher and Helen Howard both rely on their current social situations and issues to create and motional connection to the audience.This then both entertains and challenges the audiences perspective of situations and issues. The playwrights and directors evolve this emotional connection through staging conventions, dramatic forms and performance styles. The issue of...
... Is strongly highlighted The technique of dramatic tension is present throughout the whole play, as the audience is urged to ask so many questions as they don't understand or know what happening. Theatre, as Cameron quite rightly asserts, "Exists in the imagination of he beholder.
. That insight might be historical, anthropological, social or political, but it will ultimately use the theatrical experience to venture into often uncertain and sometimes uncomfortable ground Cameron opens doors in this play which we as an audience wish to have been kept closed, our fear and our suspicion that all is not as we would wish it to be. Suspect every character. The convention and form of the play Ruby Moon is very much like absurdist theatre, and is performed with naturalist acting, set and props.
Throughout the play the audience is overcome by more and more symbols and imagery that resonate in our imaginations consequently the plot becomes a Journey of tension. The play is episodic in that it is a series of short, somewhat self-contained scenes; each scene has its own narrative and complication. However, with each scene the tension builds and the action rises and thus; it is at the end of the play the audience see the deeper mystery and bigger idea of grief. Although the play is created to evoke realism, heightened naturalism is demonstrated continuously throughout the play
