Disturbing Themes In Ruby Moon

Horror plays often use disturbing themes of child disappearance to frighten the viewers, however when this is portrayed with a realistic aspect, they can be increasingly disturbing. Ruby Moon is a play by Matt Cameron, first published in 2003. The play explores two parents searching for answers to their young daughter's disappearance in a neighbourhood of strange people who are potential suspects. The play is presented with horror, supernatural, and absurd themes that leave the viewer feeling confused and threatened. In my adaptation of scene 3, I intend to decrease the strangeness of the characters and setting, making the play more realistic therefore creepier, as the viewer realises that any “normal” person could be capable of horrible things.

Set design, lighting and symbolism will be used to achieve this. The set for Sid’s house will consist of a three-seat couch, a side table with family photos, and a lamp in the corner, shedding light around the room. The three-seat couch symbolises the comfort that Sylvie feels when she walks into the house, as opposed to the fear in the original scene, and creates a sense of welcoming and inviting to his character. The side table with family photos has a similar purpose but additionally, it creates a history for Sid and shows that he has friends and people who love him which reinforces the idea that he is a likeable person. The lamp in the corner is a symbol of trust and happiness, instead of the dark room depicted in the original representation of the house. Similar adjustments will be made to the other scenes where Ray and Sylvie interview the neighbours of Flaming Tree Grove. Thus, this depiction of a “normal home”, through set design, props and lighting, will minimise Sid’s stranger attributes which reinforces the concept that ‘normal’ people can do horrible

To emphasise Sid’s more“normal” personality traits, I intend to use costuming, dialogue and acting to emphasise Sid's more ‘normal’ personality traits. For example, Sid will be a businessman instead of the clown he was originally scripted to be, so he will wear a simple grey-brown suit in the scene. His tie will be loosened slightly to convey his interrogation at the police station, however, he won’t look completely dishevelled to the point of looking crazy. This will effectively show his “normal” personality and eliminate the concept of “He is strange so he must have killed Ruby.” Additionally, the actor of Sid would deliver the lines that may seem creepy to the audience, using body language and tone, which would be interpreted as the quirky traits of someone with poor social skills rather than intimidating and scary. To further show this, I intend to remove some of Sid’s outright creepy lines, to hint at his strangeness rather than making it overt. This will reveal the ‘oddball’ characteristics of the character and create a sense of lightness to the role as the audience empathises with his lack of social skills instead of being intimidated. When Sid says the line,” In many ways perhaps we all are. All of us in our most secret selves, in our darkest hour, are capable of what is unconscionable.” a layer of voices