Australian playwright Matt Cameron’s famous play Ruby Moon has been staged in various countries and has also become a textbook study at many Australian high schools. The part mystery- part-psychological drama, which was penned by Cameron in the year 2003, has varied elements of grief, love, loss, longing and absurdism. This weekend, it will premiere in Mumbai. Directed by Glenn Hayden, an Australian writer, director and programmer, the play features actors Kyla D’Souza and Tavish Bhattacharyya.
Presented by the Mumbai-based Peas and Carrots Theatre Company, Ruby Moonrevolves around Sylvie and Ray Moon, a couple from the fictional town of Flaming Tree Grove, who are struggling to come to terms with the mysterious disappearance of their young daughter, Ruby. They are almost ready to give up hope, until the arm of Ruby's doll turns up in their letter box. Desperate for answers, they interview their neighbours about the incident and encounter many eccentric characters, including a Bible-thumping old woman, an ex-soldier who still lives with his mother, Ruby’s creepy babysitter and a mad scientist. Does the couple ever come to terms with the disappearance of their daughter and will they ever find Ruby forms the crux of the plot.
Hayden was keen to direct the play as it was in sync with his ideology of working as an artistic director of the Peas and Carrots Theatre Company, with which he has been associated since the year 2014. He says, “I have been looking at developing a programme in Mumbai where plays from other countries are transportable to an Indian audience without the necessity to do an adaptation. We are quite clear that good text doesn’t need to be adapted in order to be successful in another culture. The audience is clever enough to make that transition. I was keen to stage Ruby Moon as it’s a universal story about grief, loss and pain and chronicles the decay of a relationship.”
D’Souza founded The Peas and Carrots Theatre Company in the year 2013 after graduating from The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, New York. She says, “At the institute, I was introduced to the amazing works of world-renowned playwrights. I wanted to come back to India and introduce the Indian audiences to these plays in their original form.” As for the name, “Peas and carrots” is a conventional phrase used by actors carrying on a whispered conversation in the background to portray the lip movements and sounds of a muted exchange without actually saying anything aloud.
From the performer’s perspective, Ruby Moon is an actor’s piece as the two protagonists enact all the characters. D’Souza, who plays Sylvie, says that her character is multi-layered as she tries to come to terms with her daughter’s loss by creating an imaginary world where she believes that Ruby is alive. “My character is not only dealing with the loss of her child but is also going through a lot of mental trauma. One of the themes that the play deals with is mental health. It explores how people who go through depression and anxiety feel guilty but at the same time enjoy comfort in their condition. For them, it’s much scarier to step into reality and deal with what life has in store for them,” she adds.
For D’Souza and Bhattacharyya, it hasn’t been an easy task to play all the eight characters that are seen in the play. “It’s been an amazing yet challenging journey. Each person in the play is different and has their own back story. It’s been interesting to jump from one character to the next,” exclaims D’Souza.
Bhattacharyya, who is also a voiceover artiste and a musician, believes that portraying so many diverse characters on stage has pushed his limits as an actor. “It involved a lot of research and hard work. In order to portray these characters, we had to intellectually break down the script to understand what these people represent to the protagonists,” he says.
Ruby Moon will be staged this evening and on November 12 at 7.30 p.m. at G5A, Mahalaxmi
