Monster

Anna Sokolova
Mar 13
4 min read

Updated: Mar 15

KXT on Broadway, Sydney, 6-21 March 2026

The review

The list of plays directed by Kim Hardwick is long, but I've seen the “Children's Hour”, a work where a cruel, destructive outsider kid who cannot fit in, and yet, having someone who loves this child unconditionally, despite witnessing the irreversible damage they cause. Bringing memories, the film “We need to talk about Kevin” is also a part of a similar conversation. Can such a person be changed, or is it too late?

"Monster". A teacher in training, Tom, a person who has changed his profession recently and moved to a small town, has been given a “project”. A complex, unconventional child, Darryl, to mentor, to try and return him back to the class, to books, to study.

Tom has a bride, Jodi. Darryl lives with his grandmother, Rita.

The scenes are switching fast, split by electronic music of a type of “Arctic Monkeys”, and sounds like electricity buzzing, arching, or something growling. There is a very scarce arrangement of furniture - a table and two cheap chairs, and a remarkable hook on the wall inside the empty black box. Not inviting space, even when lightened up as a dining room in Jodi’s house.

Darryl is the gravity center of the work. No matter what else is happening, all attention is glued to him. The constant question hangs in the air - what else will he do? With each scene, he becomes more and more a personification of uncontrolled and unpredictable danger. There is no agenda, but a dark, horrifying, traumatic baggage that leaves no stoppers. His story is awful. Damage caused by his mother led to him accepting only love from his nun, but in a very disturbed way. Only 14yo, he is very smart, agile, severely damaged creature soaking his thoughts in vivid scenes of extreme violence. He feels how scary it is for the adults to be around him, and sensing it gives him control. Campbell Parsons excels in this role. He pours the words like an infinite waterfall, effortlessly, switching subjects on the fly, interrogating a person he talks to. He is talented in noticing the slightest change in the mood of his interlocutor and reacts to that. He seems anxious and calm at the same time. He constantly moves, as if looking for something. Violence flooding his speeches seems like an unconditional choice - a cheap way to feel a thrill and get that much-needed exit to anger, fury, fear. Fright, scare spread beyond the stage without an offer of resolution, only leaving a knot of thoughts.

Those around Darryl are hardly standing a chance of staying sane. Teachers, if compassionate, fall into the danger of self-damaging trying to break through a well-cured wall of ‘I can do everything, and you are not in a position to stop me, command me, punish me - at all’. Tom lost control once, and what immediately came after - a scare in his eyes, that he lost if and he lost his dignity as a teacher. For Darryl, it is immensely funny. Only Jodi, a woman, a pregnant woman, is the only figure who, out of native wisdom, is capable of saying in his face plainly and clearly everything she thinks. Speaking as spitting, her words awakened very mixed feelings. She was clearly destroying Darryl, protecting herself and her child - her choice was obvious. But humanity could be calling for compassion, while reality kept balancing between both.

The choice seems to be either to eliminate the monster or accept the burden of judgment for a human life. Or find courage and love, trying to revive a broken, lost soul, literally risking life. Yet it is not that simple. Rita sees it all and yet loves and creates an imaginary world where things are fine. Tom is close to the line of losing it all - and still tries to help. Jodi hates Darryl unconditionally, yet still gives him a minute of shelter.

There was a lot of talk in the foyer after the show about modern rules of working with kids and compliance. Teens are often uncontrolled, and there are not many values, no role models, no firm definitions of right or wrong that would be shaping young guys now. The torture of growing up is unbearable as it is. Adding more to it is cruel from the side of grown-ups. How many cases each of us know, when a kid is not motivated, not well (if at all) - read, not interested in anything? There are easily tens around me. How to sort it out?

There is a Chekhov cliche, saying that a ruffle on the wall in the first act shall shoot in the last, but here this expectation is broken. The knife’s blade is glittering in the light, ready for blood, but is left dry. It is scarier than a crime committed. It is an open end, an anticipation, a fear that it all is by far not over.

Creative team

Producing Company: Tiny Dog Productions @tinydogproductions

Director: Kim Hardwick @hardwick3970

Playwright: Duncan Macmillan @sleevenotes

First Assistant Director Jo Booth @joeybooth

Second Assistant Director Poppy Cozens @poppycozens_

Set and Costume Designer Victor Kalka @victorkalka

Lighting Designer Topaz Marlay-Cole

Sound Designer Charlotte Leamon @charlotteleamon_music

Stage Manager Bede Curran @bedec91

Assistant Stage Manager Jennifer Manoogian

Assistant Stage Manager Roslyn Hicks

Executive Producer Romney Hamilton @romneyhamilton

Associate Producer/Graphic Designer Mel Jensen @meljensen_77

Assistant Producer Celine Widjaya @celinefrances

Marketing/Social Media Manager Liminka Pather

listed is Tiny Dog Productions and Dead fly however Tiny dog productions is the only producing company on this project. The playwright is also listed as Lillian Hellman but should be Duncan Macmillan and Kim Hardwick is not listed in the creative team. If the