Staging the unbearable

Monsters has been criticised by a victims support group

The abduction, torture and murder of two-year-old James Bulger is an event that is seared into the public memory.

The CCTV image of 10-year-old killers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson is a picture that has haunted many in the years since the toddler's death; as has the disbelief that such a crime could be committed.

Now, 16 years on, a play about the murder is due to open in London. Originally written in Swedish by Niklas Radstrom, Monsters has been translated into English and will be performed by four adult actors at the Arcola theatre in Hackney, north London.

Anything that can shed light on why those two boys did what they did is useful Blake Morrison

It is described by the play's director as attempting to give its audience a "collective experience" that investigates the profound moral and social impact of the murder, but is the case a suitable subject for theatre?

For some, the shocking kidnapping and murder is still too painful a subject for dramatic reinterpretation.

Lyn Costello, who set up the charity Mothers Against Murder and Aggression after James Bulger's death, has said that the production is "in very bad taste".

"They are not doing this for any reason but to make money and so the writers can make a name for themselves," she told the Guardian newspaper.

But for journalist Blake Morrison, whose book As If gives an extensive account of the murder, any attempt to try to understand the events that still haunt the public imagination should be given a chance to be heard.

Actors in Monsters give voice to the child murderers of James Bulger

"Any intervention, whether from a poet, a playwright, a novelist can add insights that the media, who have had a monopoly of the case, sometimes can't offer," he says.

"Anything that can shed light on why those two boys did what they did is useful.

"This is a play that, belatedly, is a source of intervention, trying to make us think, how can we prevent these tragedies from happening."

The play's producer Lilli Geissendorfer accepts that many will find the idea of the play deeply unpleasant. When she first met playwright Niklas Radstrom he told her: "I am trying to write about the unbearable."

But she is confident that the way the play has been staged will overcome people's fears.

"The way we have approached it is very sensitive, sober and constructive," she says.

For the play's director, Chris Haydon, Monsters is an attempt to call into question the sensationalism that pervades some media coverage of the story.

The production design, with video screens relaying live action and archive footage from the 1990s - although the infamous CCTV images are not used - and with an audience layout which blocks a complete view of the action from any particular seat, is aimed at forcing those watching to think about how their own perspective and the media coverage shaped their understanding of the tragic events.

Four adult actors play all the roles in Niklas Radstrom's play

"We're trying to be very careful in how we explore the issue...sensationalism or exploiting something is certainly not what we are interested in doing," says Mr Haydon.

The director believes that the play gives a valuable understanding of fundamental issues raised by the case - particularly the notion of evil in a secular society and the complex moral feelings that surround the numerous witnesses to the shopping centre abduction.

"What I would like is someone to leave the theatre at the end with a slightly different understanding of the event, a slightly different take on the world," he says.