From left, Jo Caruana, Chiara Hyzler, Tom Camilleri and Christian Galea are caught in a horrific tale of obsession in Ernest and the Pale Moon. Photo: Emma Micallef

Theatre
Ernest and the Pale Moon
Palazzo de la Salle

New theatre collective The Shrinking Violets could not have chosen a better debut performance than Ernest and the Pale Moon, which is currently running at Palazzo De La Salle in Valletta.

With its eerie atmosphere and aptly sinister plotline, Oliver Lansley’s play is the perfect offering for Halloween.

With very clear intertextual references to Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s The Yellow Wallpaper, the script itself revels in its own cleverness.

What Denise Mulholland’s impeccable direction added was the Burton-esque styling, which gave a strong nod to Henry Selick’s deliberately naïve and all the more unnerving stop-motion animation in its grotesque gothic storybook tone.

With the inclusion of a chorus to enhance the tragic element of the piece, as well as the clever use of traditional sound effects performed by the ensemble, the set and its dressing were complimented by Luke Saydon’s original music score and lighting design by Late Interactive with Moritz Zavan Stoeckle.

The retro feel was at times dim and soft and, at others, stark and sharp, playing on the sizes and odd shapes of shadows, while perpetuating the metaphor of light and dark, perspective and misconception – all of which supported the rich multi-layered plot.

Tom Camilleri played the lead – Ernest Hemel, who is both the main antagonist and the victim of his own psychosis.

Hemel becomes obsessed with his neighbour Gwendoline, played with great effect by Jo Caruana in a doll-like, saccharine manner which served to accentuate her innocence and her childish fascination with the moonlight. The story, in fact takes place entirely at night.

The retro feel was at times dim and soft and, at others, stark and sharp, playing on the sizes and odd shapes of shadows

Camilleri was, as ever, strong and controlled in his performance as a nearly vampiric stalker whose hatred of Christian Galea’s excellent Thomas Thistle, a young man he sees talking to Gwendoline, pushes him over the edge.

As Chiara Hyzler’s shudderingly slick performance as “the nurse”, recounts in retrospect at the asylum, it’s always the quiet ones who have the craziest stories.

In a narrative that is rich in loops and repetition to reflect varying perspectives, building up to a clever storyline with a sharp Hitchcock-inspired twist at the end, Ernest and the Pale Moon relies on character doubling so seamlessly executed that the transitions are almost filmic. This showcases both the actors’ transformative abilities and their commitment to a near perfectionist dynamism in performance – with sharp timing and precision blocking.

The entire show was so very effective, so well-constructed and tightly woven that it was a pleasure to see it all function like clockwork. It is a performance piece which is definitely worth watching not only for its homage to classic horror and thriller tropes but also for its highly artistic exposition of the genre thanks to a strong cast, a good script and a clear directorial vision.

Ernest and the Pale Moon is being staged again from tomorrow to Sunday at Palazzo de la Salle in Valletta at 8pm. For tickets, visit www.ticketline.com.mt.