A Monster Calls stage show wins Olivier award

The stage adaptation of Patrick Ness’ award-winning YA novel A Monster Calls has won an Olivier award in the ‘Best Family and Entertainment’ category.

The play, which was staged at The Old Vic in London last year, was directed by Sally Cookson and starred Matthew Tennyson as Conor. It beat off competition at last night’s Oliviers from three other productions: ‘Snow White’, ‘Songs for Nobodies’ and ‘The Wider Earth’. Other winners at the ceremony included Jonathan Bailey, who won best actor for his performance in ‘Company’, Patti LuPone, also for her role in ‘Company’, and Stephen Daldry, who was named best director in regards to ‘The Inheritance’.

A Monster Calls is about a boy called Conor who is struggling to cope with his mother’s illness and is repeatedly visited in the middle of the night by a monster who tells stories. The story was an idea of Siobhan O’Dowd’s, who died before she could write it, and was finished by Ness. It was published by Walker Books with illustrations by Jim Kay in 2011 and was the first book to win both the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal.

A film adaptation was released in 2016.