Tom wrote The Boy Who Kicked Pigs in 1999 and it was published by Faber & Faber. It a darkly comic story about a bad boy who causes havoc at home and in his neighbourhood.
This subversive horror-fantasy is outrageous and funny – Faber & Faber
The Boy Who Kicked Pigs is illustrated by David Roberts, is still in print in the UK and has been translated and published in 8 other languages, including Chinese!
Stage version of The Boy Who Kicked Pigs
Kill the Beast Theatre Company currently have the theatrical rights of the book.
They originally performed it at the Lowry Studio Theatre in Salford, Manchester in 2012 and at other venues in 2014.
Kill the Beast use only four actors to recreate the story’s cast of hundreds. They succeed in making Tom’s tale of evil horror funny, as Tom intended it to be. The 4 actors each play many parts, and the hectic change from character to character adds to the comedy. David Cumming who plays Robert Caligari is compelling to watch despite his character being a really nasty piece of work.
Robert Caligari (centre) at the doctor’s (© Peter Marsh / Darkling Images)
The theatre version was written by director Clem Garrity with the help of the rest of the company who improvised and generated the material to make it work on stage. The structure of their play differs to some extent from the story as Tom told it, but all the main elements are there.
Robert Caligari fights with his sister, Nerys over Trevor, her piggy bank. (© Peter Marsh / Darkling Images)
Contact Kill the Beast for more information about their shows
Click on the cover to buy in UK
Click on the cover to buy on Amazon.com
