Photo Flash: First Look at MAGGOT MOON at Unicorn Theatre

Jesse Jones directs James Newton and James Day in Jemma Kennedy's visceral adaptation of Sally Gardner's dazzlingly original and award-winning novel, Maggot Moon, an unforgettable story of courage, friendship and rebellion.

Set in a dystopian 1950s Britain, the country is under the sinister totalitarian rule of the Motherland. Dark government forces are at work busy in a national race to be first on the moon. Spies and surveillance are everywhere, the impure are detained, and the truth is difficult to discern.

This dark and engaging story unfolds from the perspective of an off-key hero, the dyslexic and bullied Standish Treadwell, a fifteen-year old boy who is everything the oppressive regime dislikes: imaginative, compassionate and dangerously perceptive. As family and friends disappear around him, Standish is the only one who can stop this brutal regime.

Sally Gardner's extraordinary novel was published in 2012 and won both the Costa Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal in 2013. Admired for its intelligent portrayal of a smart dyslexic teenager and expressionistic voice, Maggot Moon uniquely articulates human resilience and heroism, and shows us how a teenager, despite the odds, can still have agency in an adult world.

This remarkable adaptation from Jemma Kennedy is alive with the book's off-kilter vision and sinister resonance. Directed by Jesse Jones, this intimate staging will be a multi-layered experience featuring projection, close live-feed video camera work and live drawing, with an original score from Ben Grant.

Photo Credit: Tristram Kenton