Use of a Thrust Stage in Ruby Moon
The texts studied in class, Matt Cameron’s Ruby Moon prove to have great potential for being performed on a thrust stage. When presented with a space such as this, it allows the director to be exposed to a vast array of ideas, conventions and concepts that would not be effective on a proscenium arch stage. Through this space, the director is able to break through all traditional styles of classic shoe box theatre; creating a unique experience for the audience as opposed to just a spectacle.
It cracks open wide the expressions, notions and insecurities of the text and the characters, exposing a physical sense of vulnerability and weakness. By placing audiences on three sides of the space evolves the concept of many people peering into the lives of both Ray and Sylvie (Ruby Moon). It enforces the concept of the audience being given the opportunity to experience this fractured fairy tale or very real circumstance within a theatrical scenario.
Furthermore, this space enables the audience to be engulfed in the style and absurdist, gothic, fast-paced and heart wrenching Ruby Moon. Many may be turned away from the idea of political theatre/ Brechtian but when placed on a thrust stage, the texts still obtain the same concepts and dramatic meaning, however elements of drama such as tension, space, contrast, mood and audience/spectator relationship are magnified; focusing more on the conventions of the play as opposed to just the messages.
Theatrical elements such as costume, set and lighting also have the opportunity to be re-worked and re-invented to cater for the space. Ruby Moon delivers a series of quirky characters that Ray and Sylvie visit along the street of Flaming Tree Grove. Incorporating the style of transformational acting.
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