Ruby Moon and Still Angela Drama Essay

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‘Still Angela’ by Jenny Kemp and ‘Ruby Moon’ by Matt Cameron are plays that evaded the norms of conservative and often straightforward theatre, into a dreamlike, surreal state. They portray life as a routine; and to escape it, the characters pursuit their own inner self journeys. Both playwrights Cameron and Kemp use contemporary theatre forms, which has created an interesting approach on story telling. However the theatrical techniques of Ruby Moon and Still Angela are completely dissimilar. Unlike ‘Still Angela’s’ jolted time frame, ‘Ruby Moon’ has a very distinct progression, as it is highly episodic. The play making references to children’s books throughout emphasizes time in passages; skipping from character to character. Sylvie and Rays life consists like Angela of a routine, one day after the other rolling into one long fairytale, and within it a distinct beginning and end, as they endeavor to uncover the truth of ruby moon. In contrast both time and Angela has been jumbled up, as the audience closely takes part in her journey. It is does not use the same narrative style as Cameron; instead time in non-linear and the different stages of Angela’s life can coexist together. This is excellent in documenting the significant points of change in her life that have caused in the mothers case, an ongoing effect. Although the plays equally center on realistic qualities of society, characters and suburbia, they take it in a non-realistic direction by transforming everyday life and traumas into a weird and distorted form, that can I either be confusing or confronting. It seems these plays use different concepts and techniques to explore parallel themes. ‘Still Angela’ and ‘Ruby Moon’ try to expose the interior of a character, and how our emotions can manipulate our world around us, therefor the characterization has been done such to highlight this. The characters
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