"None of this should ever have happened. Somebody should have given us a different life."

Two ten year olds are brought in for questioning. A third boy has gone missing. The investigator is gentle. The boys begin to talk.

1993. A play about the killing of James Bulger. Stripped to the bone, faithful to the facts. Unflinching.

Monsters looks beyond the media gaze to distil our individual and collective responsibilities in a seemingly incomprehensible tragedy.

Niklas Radstrom is one of Sweden’s most accomplished writers, winning prestigious awards for his drama, fiction, film scripts and poetry.

Winner of the inaugural Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation Award 2008.

"Outrageous and beautiful"
Tomas Forser, The Gothenburg Post, Sweden

"Turning our backs to the smallest injustice is going to be a little harder in the future"
Linda Isaksson, Nummer.se, Sweden

"A powerful and confrontational piece of drama, based on one of our era's most horrifying incidents"
Odsherred Teater, Denmark

Creative Team:
Direction Christopher Haydon
Design Jon Bausor
Video Douglas O’Connell
Lighting Mark Howland
Sound Tom Hackley
Cast Lucy Ellinson, Sandy Grierson, Jeremy Killick, Victoria Pratt

Presented by Arcola Theatre and Strawberry Vale Productions

Strawberry Vale Productions:
Monsters will be Strawberry Vale Productions’ fifth theatre production and second collaboration with Christopher Haydon. Since its foundation in 2006 it has established itself as a dynamic and critically acclaimed creative production company for theatre and film, including the Award for Best Short for a Young Audience at the Berlin Short Film Festival 2008. www.strawberryvaleproductions.com

Praise for Past Productions:

“Director Christopher Haydon has presented a neatly contained vignette that is somehow much more than the sum of its parts.“
Time Out, Critics’ Choice (Notes from Underground)

“It's hard to argue that [McCafferty] has written anything better. Martin Brody and Benjamin Davies are remarkable”
Evening Standard, Critics Choice (Mojo Mickybo)

“An arrestingly fresh angle on familiar territory. Tom Mison is dashingly droll… Tony Guilfoyle is excellent… Recommended.”
Paul Taylor, Independent (The Living Unknown Soldier)