Just in time for the spookiest week of the year, Ernest and the Pale Moon is the first offering to the local theatre scene by The Shrinking Violets, an exciting new collective of talented female artists. No strangers to the Maltese stage, these violets are in full bloom at Palazzo De La Salle with a perfectly polished tale of dark love and obsession.
Part Edgar Allen Poe and part early Tim Burton, Oliver Lansley’s gothic story features a cast of over-the-top characters and a poetic rhythm that almost veers into fairy tale territory. That is, as long as you like your fairy tales on the deliciously creepy side (which I do).
Although gothic horror aficionados may find the story a little too familiar to a few well-known tales from the genre, the script still manages to be interesting and pleasantly lyrical. With a run time of around an hour, the show is slick and well-paced, moving neatly from one story beat to the next and never giving the audience the opportunity to grow bored.
Nestled into the cosy, brand new theatre space in Palazzo De La Salle, Ernest and the Pale Moon is a meticulous production. Director Denise Mulholland leaves no stone unturned in bringing the play to life, from the excellent performances of her cast to the jaw-droppingly gorgeous lighting.
If this is the standard which the Shrinking Violets intend to adhere to in the future productions, they will undoubtedly become a force to be reckoned with on the local theatre scene. A lot of work was clearly poured into every last detail of this production, and the result is clear throughout.
The effectively-utilised cast of four actors each shared an equal role in moving the story along by portraying various characters, assisting scenery changes and even providing some remarkably well-timed sound effects. The four of them worked excellently as a team, while also being allowed to shine in their own individual capacities.
As the titular Ernest, the ever-reliable Thomas Camilleri displays an intense physicality whenever he stalks across the stage, while Jo Caruana’s natural sweetness is perfectly suited to the role of Gwendoline.
As former soldier Thomas, Christian Galea brings a particular brand of prickly energy to the role, and Chiara Hyzler’s natural comic timing added a hint of gleeful creepiness to every character she portrayed.
In combination with the performances, I felt the make-up used throughout the show did an excellent job of both highlighting the surreal nature of the play as well as important physical attributes of the characters – in particular Gwendoline’s blindness. This is just one of the many examples to demonstrate that this show simply did not settle for ‘good enough’.
There is thought behind everything which appears on stage and that attention to detail is what we are so sorely missing in many local productions.
Dealing with a text that puts so much emphasis on darkness and sight, the lighting of ‘Ernest and The Pale Moon’ is practically a fifth member of the cast, lovingly brought to life by Late Interactive and Moritz Zavan Stoeckle.
Adding yet another layer of detail to the production was Luke Saydon’s tinkling, haunting original score, which effectively set the scene throughout the production.
As the collective’s first outing on the Maltese theatre stage, Ernest and the Pale Moon sets The Shrinking Violets off to an exceptional start. While this group of talented ladies are by no means new to the local scene, I’m genuinely excited to see what performances their combined strengths will treat us to in the seasons to come.
If they’re anything like Ernest and his macabre moonlit adventures, I’ll be the first at the box office.