Ruby Moon

Front 1

P.1Who is Ruby?

Back 1

o Ray & Sylvie Daughter

Front 2

P.2 What has happened to her?

Back 2

o Disappeared - Not Solved
o Speculation - was there really a little girl?
o Symbolised by a mannequin who the parents treat as a real person

Front 3

P.3 What message is left on the answering machine?

Back 3

o "It's only me, has the little one left yet… beep.. Still no sign of her… beep… hello? Ray… Ray!?"

Front 4

P.4 What is the significance of the storybook? What story is being told? How does this relate to the events of the play?

Back 4

o "It's only me, has the little one left yet… beep.. Still no sign of her… beep… hello? Ray… Ray!?"

Front 5

P.5 `What do they know? What are the facts? List them?

Back 5

o Went to grandma's never arrived
o Found the Butterfly clip outside Veronica Vales house
o Beside an upturned ice-cream (Ruby didn't have money)
o Ms Doily's parrot "Where's the pretty girl?"
o Telephone Repair van outside but the phone still rang.
o Phone call from Ray @ 6.48 (12 minutes away)
o Dinner due @ 7 (but there was no dinner)
o Sylvie leaves to tell Dulcie about the parrot. When she gets back ray is on the phone
eating an ice-cream (talking to Grandma Moon) .
o Search the street, one side each
o Called the police
o Remains officially open

Front 6

P.6 What package have they received?

Back 6

o A package containing Ruby Dolls arm.

Front 7

1.1 What is strange about Dulcie?

Back 7

o She pretends to have a parrot.
o Convinced that it is real
o Speaks for the parrot
o Fanatically obsessed with Religion

Front 8

1.2 What does Dulcie blame Ruby for doing?

Back 8

o For being unfamiliar with the scriptures
o Corrupting Polly
o Deserving her own death
o Spending inappropriate time with Sid Craven

Front 9

Scene 1 - What is the significance of this quote?

Ray: She never had anything to do with Sid Craven.
Dulcie: I saw her come out of there that day.

Back 9

It shows Ray that there were aspects of their daughter's life that they did not know.

Front 10

Scene 1 - What was the significance of this quote?

DULCIE: Please Raymond, call me Dulcie. How is that poor wife of yours?
RAY: Much better.
DULCIE: Fragile creature. She must be a burden.
RAY: Getting stronger by the day.
DULCIE: I don’t know how she can bear the guilt.
RAY: Why do you say that?
DULCIE: I’m not a mother but one does fear for the little lambs left alone to stray. And when one considers certain elements in the neighbourhood. Types like Mr Craven across the way. G-o-d only knows what goes on in that house.

Back 10

- It a reference to the what other people think of Sylvie.

- Directs the blame to Sid

Front 11

4.1 Who do they Suspect has been leaving them packages?

Back 11

Sylvie and Ray suspect the wizard

Front 12

Scene 3 - She [Sylvie] is walking on the spot.

What is the significance of this?

Back 12

- Going nowhere, Routine.
- Going nowhere with this investigation.
- Not moving on with their grief.

Front 13

This quote by Matt Cameron “The child randomly taken from our midst is an all-too-common tragedy which threatens us in a deeply primal way”. How does it relate to the themes of the play?

Back 13

A parent’s worst nightmare is to have lost their child, especially if the neighbour is assumed to have been involved.

Everyone feels safe in their home and most people feel safe in their street. How safe are we really? Do we know who lives next door?

Another quote from Matt Cameron to support this... (of growing up in Melbourne suburbs) ‘Neighbours dutifully waved but had no idea who each other really was or what went on over the fence, behind the curtains.’

By using his "timeless, placeless" setting, Matt Cameron suggest that this could happen to anyone.

Front 14

Matt Cameron says “that the play is as much about what is unseen as that which is seen.” How is this represented through dramatic elements?

Back 14

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 lurky in that darkness?

Adelaide writer Tess Brady says this of Matt Cameron's work ‘Cameron holds a lens up to the ordinary and shows us how disturbing, how provocative it can be’. ‘Makes the safe frightening and if the safe is frightening where do we go to hide.’

Front 15

Stage Directions...“The Ruby mannequin stands under the street lamp with the moon hovering”.. What is symbolised by the moon? Why is their a mannequin?

Back 15

The moon symbolises the ominous night, barely light streets, giving it a nightmarish mood (To enhance the nightmare that Ray and Sylvie are living)

The mannequin is used in desperate hope of extracting information from their neighbours.

Front 16

Sound effects of “distant thunder rumbling and rain falling, a soundscape of whistling wind, the echoing of wind chimes and a creaky tree" What atmosphere is created here and what effect does it have on the audience and the characters?

Back 16

create a sinister atmosphere, of extreme suffering and deepens that sense of unease and fear amongst the audience.

Front 17

What could be symbolised by the wizard's continual knock at the door?

Back 17

Could symbolise the real, outside world trying to bring some normality to Ray and Sylvie’s lives. But the normality is portrayed as something scary.

Front 18

Can you write some points about the play that supports this statement?

It demonstrates the dark and twisted atmosphere of the characters world and shows the audience the irrational state in which they live.

Back 18

Feel free to add your own

- Sylvie not taking her pills

- Symbolism of the dark and twisted tree in the Set Description

- Hovering moon

- Street Lamps

Front 19

Can you write some points about the play that supports this statement?

Normal relations disintegrate under the pressure of the parents reaction to their child’s loss.

Back 19

Feel free to add your own response

- fracturing of the personality as represented by the characters

- disconnected dialogue between Sylvie and Ray in Prologue.

- the despair and desperation in the text through the use of space between the characters at all times, having them close when trying to find answers and information about their child then moving further away when it is not obtained.

Front 20

How have Cameron’s attitudes
to the world in which he lives,
influenced the construction of the
text?

Back 20

Feel free to contribute to this response.

- Stories such as Beaumont Children, Azaria Chamberlain, Daniel Morcombe have changed Australians views on how parents should protect their children.

Front 21

Make a list of the
ideas and issues that Cameron has
brought to audiences’ attention.

Back 21

Feel free to contribute to this response.

- Safety of the Suburb
- Grief and Isolation

Front 22

How is space used to highlight ideas from the text?

Back 22

- the despair and desperation in the text through the use of space between the characters at all times, having them close when trying to find answers and information about their child then moving further away when it is not obtained.

- Sylvie is always desperate and questioning everything, having her close to the other character also implies interrogation and invasion of their personal space which is also what she is doing anyway by knocking on every door in the neighbourhood and expecting answers.

Front 23

Matt Cameron explores this idea in the play Ruby Moon through the use of cyclical structure... (finish this pararagraph. Call Renee if you get stuck!)

Back 23

PEEL
Point
Explain
Example
Link to text

Front 24

Transformational acting is used to convey this experience to the audience... What experience? Write the paragraph for this sentence.

Back 24

PEEL
Point
Explain
Example
Link to text

Front 25

Fear of the Unknown

Matt Cameron plays on the idea that there is fear within everyone, from others, themselves and their environment. The play depicts the mistrust amongst the various inhabitants of what is meant to be a community. We constantly live in fear and thinking the worst of each situation.

What performance elements are used on stage to represent this idea?

Back 25

- The use of light and dark & soundscape

- The elements of productions used to convey the individual experience of ‘fear of the unknown’ includes blackout. With the use of sound scape; singing ‘Curtain girl, erie voice saying ‘It begins like a fairytale’, distorted ice-cream van and breathing creates a sense of eeriness for the audience.

- Not being able to see what the actors are doing, forces the audience to use their imagination by utilising the noises they hear rather than a visual stimulus. The darkness also symbolises the fear of the unknown. The actors are seen in the spotlights, what is in the darkness around them?