Little girl lost
To what lengths would you go to deal with grief?
Achild steps out on a short journey she’s made many, many times before, only to suddenly disappear.
it is every parent’s nightmare. What could possibly have happened to her and how does one stay sane, dealing with something of this nature?
Explore the darkness of the human mind in the fractured fairytale Ruby Moon, a play that begins its run this week.
“Ruby Moon is an interesting play. it’s a missing child narrative. however, while the disappearance sets the stage for the story, the show is really about the parents, who we watch disintegrate night after night,” explains director christopher ling.
The play, written by Australian playwright Matt cameron, features the talents of Alex chua and davina Goh, as well as a soundscape and original music by Onn San.
it revolves around doting parents Ray (chua) and Sylvie Moon (Goh) who live an idyllic lifestyle in the peaceful neighbourhood of Flaming Tree Grove, until their six-year-old daughter Ruby sets off to visit her grandmother – on her own – one day and never returns.
When an ominous parcel arrives on their doorstep, Ray and Sylvie are prompted to call on their enigmatic and eccentric neighbours (all also played by chua and Goh) to solve the mystery of their daughter’s disappearance.
however, it slowly becomes clear that there is something unsettling about the residents of Flame Tree Grove, especially Ray and Sylvie themselves.
ling says that he was recommended to the play by the head of the drama department of the Australian international School of Malaysia last year.
“i like it because of its inherent challenges, it’s not exactly a straightforward play. Not only that, but at the time, the Nayati Moodiar kidnapping case had just been settled, and i thought it would be very topical,” ling notes.
ling adds that one of his biggest challenges was ensuring the production was staged in a responsible and sensitive manner, in the light of recent missing persons cases.
“This topic is in the Malaysian psyche now. i had to make sure i was responsibly portraying the grief that this couple was feeling. We placed a lot of emphasis on how the love in their relationship is overpowered by this, which leads to two people desperately trying their best to get things back to how they were,” ling says.
he also says that the play is not meant to be an official response to any case.
“i hope despite the dark subjects, audiences will still be able to find the comedy in this play, and laugh. All theatre is a journey, and as freaky as that sounds, i hope they will be able to see some facet of themselves in the characters on stage.”
composer Onn says that as a fan of horror, he was drawn to Ruby Moon’s dark themes.
“i was naturally drawn to this subject. The characters are so juicy, it was almost a composer’s dream,” he shares. his favourite piece of music in the play is the torch song sung by the character Veronica (Goh).
Meanwhile, lead actor chua, who also portrays soldier Sonny Jim, Professor Ogle, and the clown Sid craven, describes Ray Moon as a man doing everything he could to keep his family together.
“he views his role as man of the house in a very traditional way – he brings home the money and makes sure everything is okay. however, he absolutely fails at the one thing in his life he was supposed to do well, which is protect his daughter,” chua notes.
in contrast, Goh describes her character Sylvie as a sweet woman pushed to the edge.
“Sylvie is a genuinely nice young lady, a doting wife and mother. however, this happens, and she becomes a crazy psychopath. You don’t realise how dark you can be until something like this happens to you.”
Goh, who also plays the stripper Veronica, the ultra-religious dulcie doily and babysitter dawn, said playing multiple characters allowed her to try her hand at accent work.
“The most fun role to play was Veronica. i’m not naturally sensuous like that, so it was a nice little roleplaying experience. in terms of really getting into character however, my favourite character was dawn. her self-esteem issues were something i could relate to many years ago.”
runs from Feb 28 to March 3 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre and from March 7 to 10 at the Penang Performing Arts Centre. Showtimes are 8.30pm on Thursdays to Saturdays, and 3pm on Sunday. Tickets: RM33 and RM23 (students, the disabled and The Actors Studio cardholders).
For details, call 03-4047 9000 (KL), 04-899 2722 (Penang) or browse klpac.org or www.ilassotickets.com.