Award-winning play Monster, exploring childhood violence and redemption, transfers to Seven Dials Playhouse

Monster, an award-winning play that examines the ripple effects of crimes committed in childhood and the possibility of forgiveness, is transferring to Seven Dials Playhouse this autumn.

Written by Abigail Hood and directed by Kevin Tomlinson, the play is set across two decades. Opening in 2006, it follows Kayleigh, a troubled teenager growing up in Glasgow, whose intense friendship with fellow teen Zoe offers an escape from an abusive home.

As they dream of running away together to the Isle of Muck, the adults in their lives intervene, triggering a series of events that will end in tragedy – with 15-year-old Kayleigh taking the life of the baby daughter of her teacher Rebecca Hastie and her husband Steve.

The play moves between the events leading up to the crime and Kayleigh’s adult life, probing questions about culpability, rehabilitation, and whether someone raised in violence is doomed to repeat it. 

Although not based on any single real-life case, the play is informed by extensive research into the lives of Mary Bell, a girl who (at barely 11 years old) murdered two little boys (aged 3 and 4 years old), Jon Venables and Robert Thompson (10-year-old boys, who abducted, tortured, and murdered a two-year-old) and other less reported cases of children who have killed. 

Monster explores the vicious cycle of abuse, the impact of trauma on young people, and asks if society is failing its most vulnerable. It interrogates whether past mistakes can ever be forgiven or forgotten, whether those raised by “monsters” can ever truly heal, or whether they are destined to become monsters themselves, and what redemption might look like after such a crime. It also questions how a bereaved parent can ever come to terms with the loss of a child at the hands of another and whether forgiveness is possible, or even right.

Writer Abigail Hood says “I was struck by the idea of what happens to someone after they’ve committed a terrible crime - especially when it happened in childhood. I read two biographies written about Mary Bell 26 years apart; the first documenting her trial, published in 1972 and the second - after hours of interviews with Mary, now married and a mother and living under a new identity. The exploration of her guilt and the course of her life gripped me and touched my very soul. I was horrified, saddened and unexpectedly moved. I knew I wanted to explore this story and others like it... what drives a child to commit such an atrocity, how do such people go on to live a life afterwards, is rehabilitation possible, should the victims of their crime ever forgive, do they deserve forgiveness? These questions stayed with me, and Monster became a way to explore them.” 

The revived production at Seven Dials Playhouse will run from September 24th – October 18th. For tickets and more information, visit: https://www.sevendialsplayhouse.co.uk/shows/monster 

Monster is supporting and supported by Advance, a charity that supports women and girls affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence, including those in contact with the criminal justice system.For more information, or to donate, please visit www.advancecharity.org.uk