A proyect by
Special thanks to
ONE OF THE MOST
MOVING STORIES EVER TOLD
Conor is only 13 years old, but he knows exactly what is going to happen shortly after midnight.
He is going to have the same nightmare again, that "nightmare full of darkness, wind and screams."
It's been like this since his mother fell ill.
Although that night seems different. Conor hears a voice calling him from the garden. In front of the house, there is an old church with its cemetery and an old tree, a yew that has transformed into a monster before Conor's eyes.
Hand in hand with that creature, Conor embarks night after night on a new adventure to escape his own fears until he gathers enough courage to face his worst nightmare, his own story: the truth.
________
A monster calls is a story whose witness has been passed from hand to hand until it reaches the hearts of thousands of readers and movie and theater viewers. British writer Siobhan Dowd, diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2004, began writing a story about a boy dealing with his mother's terminal illness. Siobhan died in 2007. Her publisher contacted Patrick Ness shortly after to complete the story that had begun: “it had the characters and a premise. What he didn't have, unfortunately, was time."
The novel was published in 2011 to an exceptional reception. In 2016, Juan Antonio Bayona released an acclaimed adaptation in theaters that received 9 Goya Awards. In 2018, the Old Vic Theater in London premiered a theatrical version that toured the United Kingdom and the United States with a warm reception from the public and critics.
We now receive in Spain a moving story, a project dreamed of for years that awaits thousands of spectators eager to take up the baton and transmit a great legacy.
EVERYONE AGAINST CANCER
The premiere and national tour of the theatrical version of A Monster Comes to See Me will be a major theatrical and educational event of the 2024/25 season that will bring together the skills of artists, teachers, healthcare professionals and entrepreneurs in a major program of action against cancer.
The project is framed within the initiative 'Todos Contra el Cáncer' of the Spanish Association Against Cancer, contributing to raise awareness in society and increase the resources available for prevention, research and early detection of cancer with the aim of achieving the great challenge of over 70% survival rate in 2030.
Learn more about the challenge at todos.contraelcancer.es
A bridge between Health, Education and Culture
The Spanish Association Against Cancer and LaJoven are twinned, from the coincidence of their missions, in a project that puts the performing arts at the service of awareness and emotional education, especially for the youngest.
In the last ten years, more than 350,000 teenagers and young people have been thrilled in the stalls of more than 75 cities throughout Spain with one of the 23 plays that LaJoven has performed for all audiences.
This project is part of the plans and programs within the outreach axis of the Spanish Association Against Cancer, in the section Call it Cancer: a project that aims to break the great taboo that exists around cancer, to lose the fear to visualize and normalize the social and emotional reality of this disease.
The experience in communication and awareness of the Spanish Association Against Cancer and the artistic and pedagogical solvency of LaJoven come together in a unique project that will reach in its first two months of representations to more than 10,000 young people.
CAST
ARTISTIC TEAM
Translation of the original play A MONSTER CALLS based on the novel by Patrick Ness.
Inspired by an original idea by Siobhan Dowd
Adapted by Sally Sookson, Adam Peck and the original company.
Premiered in 2018 by The Old Vic of London, in association with Bristol Old Vic.
Dirección José Luis Arellano García
Traducción David R. Peralto
Escenografía José Luis Raymond y Laura Ordás
Iluminación Juan Gómez-Cornejo (AAI) y Jesús Díaz Cortés (AAI)
Videoescena Álvaro Luna (AAI)
Vestuario Ikerne Giménez
Música Alberto Granados Reguilón
Movimiento escénico Chevi Muraday
DIR. Producción Olga Reguilón Aguado
DIR. Técnica “Está por Ver”
DIR. Técnica LaJoven Daniel Villar
Ayudantía de dirección David Blanco
Regiduría y ayudantía de escenografía Christina Eleftheriadou
Ayudantía de vestuario Laura Camila Forero
Ayudantía musical Antonio Serrano
Técnico de iluminación Óscar Fernández
Técnivo AV David González
Ayt. Técnico iluminación María Díez
Maquinista Raquel Rubio
Prácticas de regiduría Lou Bigué-Suner
Realizaciones Mambo Decorados, Alles Schick (escenografía), Juan Carlos Rodríguez (utilería) Gabriel Besa y Cristina Collado (sastrería).
Guía Didáctica Maite Fernandez, Carmen Yelamos, Elena Trujillo y Paloma Romero
AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL
Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness is the multi-award-winning author of books for adults, young adults and children. A Monster Comes to See Me, inspired by an idea by the late Siobhan Dowd and which Patrick also adapted for the screen (2016, starring Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson and Felicity Jones), is published in forty languages.
An adaptation of the first of his Chaos Walking trilogy - starring Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) - was released in 2021. Patrick has won every major award for children's fiction, including the Carnegie Medal twice, and won the Olivier Award for the theatrical adaptation of A Monster Comes to See Me. He created and wrote the 8-part BBC spinoff Doctor Who Class and as a screenwriter has written for Fox, Lionsgate, Apple, Warner Brothers and Entertainment One.
The first book in his new middle grade series, 'Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody', was published by Walker in September 2024 and will be followed by 'The Hat of Great Importance' in June 2025.
ORIGINAL IDEA
Siobhan Dowd
Siobhan Dowd was born in 1960 to Irish parents. Raised in London, she began her career working in New York for International PEN, where she headed the Rushdie Advocacy Committee and was named one of the “Top 100 Irish-Americans”. Upon her return to the UK, Siobhan co-founded English PEN's Readers and Writers Program and went on to serve as Deputy Commissioner for Children's Rights in Oxfordshire.
Siobhan did not start writing until she was invited to contribute a story to a children's anthology on racism. She went on to write four award-winning novels, celebrating the publication of A Swift Pure Cry and The London Eye Mystery, but Bog Child and Solace of the Road were published posthumously. Waterstones had just named her one of the “25 Authors of the Future.”
She died in April 2007, aged just 47. In her final days, Siobhan set up a trust to direct the profits from her works to fund reading projects for children.
Twitter: @sdowdtrust
ADAPTATION
Adam Peck
Adam is a playwright and winner of the Olivier and OFFIE awards in the UK. He was an associate artist at Bristol Old Vic between 2013 and 2024.
Recent credits include The Jolly Christmas Postman (for Royal & Derngate, Northampton), Cinderella: A Fairytale (for Northern Stage, Newcastle), Oliver Twist and 101 Dalmatians (for Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol), Orpheus & Eurydice and Belle & Sebastian (for Bristol Old Vic), and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (for Chris Harper Productions, West End & UK Tour).
His plays have been published by Bloomsbury and Walker Books.
José Luis Arellano
DIRECTION
With a degree in Dramatic Art from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid, he has developed his career mainly in Spain and the United States. His latest works as a director are 'Peter and Wendy heading to Neverland' by Nando López, 'War&Love' written by Carlos Be and 'Yo te querré' by Proyecto Zarza. He is also a regular guest director at GALA Theatre in Washington DC where he won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Direction for Yerma in 2015.
He is artistic director and founder of LaJoven. With it he has directed numerous productions with texts and commissioned versions of authors such as Juan Mayorga, Jordi Casanovas, Irma Correa, Marta Buchaca, Alberto Conejero, Guillem Clua and Nando López with great reception by the public and which have earned him awards such as Finalist for the Valle-Inclán Award for 'Proyecto Homero: Ilíada/ Odisea' and Finalist in the MAX Awards for 'El señor de las moscas' and 'Eneida: Playlist para un continente a la deriva'.
CAN YOU HELP US?
We are looking for companies and sponsors to help us raise funds to bring this story to the lives of young people in Spain. Leave us your contact information and we will send you all the detailed information.
A translation of the original English play A MONSTER CALLS
Based on the novel by PATRICK NESS, inspired by an original idea by SIOBHAN DOWD
Adapted to stage by SALLY COOKSON & ADAM PECK
Devised by the original company of the 2018 premiere at The Old Vic, London, in collaboration with the Bristol Old Vic