Ruby Moon at Northern Stage

May 31 2007 By David Bullock, The Evening Chronicle

Ruby Moon, written by Matt Cameron, was a varied feast of metaphorical lessons about how the mind deals with loss, change and the acceptance of the new neural states these cause.

The first image presented to the audience was Sylvie (played by Tilly Gaunt) looking out of the window of a sinister-looking house. As the circular auditorium was entered, the whole theatre emerged as the interior of the two characters' house. Viewers were supposed to feel trapped within, ready to witness the actors' journey through their nightmare.

What followed were two exceptional performances from Sylvie and Ray (played by Nick Haverson). Amazing characterisation kept the audience hooked until the end climactic scene.

The terrible back-story being the tragic, and currently topical, loss of Ruby Moon, the two actors' child.

Her parents visited a plethora of interesting neighbours, who progressively became darker in aura.

Only at the end of the journey the encounters were revealed as the various mental states Sylvie and Ray entered during what appeared as a daily ritual they perform to help them deal with their loss. Metaphorically the two characters seemed to represent the two hemispheres of the brain, confined to the mind symbolised by the house they were trapped within.

The rational side of the brain was Sylvie's constant reference to doll parts, which suggested fragments of the past, or memories, were her way of dealing with the loss. The irrational side of the brain was represented by Ray's journey into a non-logical madness caused by the fruitless perpetual search for his child.

The end scene showed a harmonious reformation of the two characters, right and left hand side of brain acting as one to deal with and accept the new state of no longer having a child. The audience left the theatre with an important lesson. The daily ritual of constant hope for the return to original desired states of mind can be ended by simply altering the perception about the new state of reality the brain finds itself in.