Skellig

Man, bird or angel? Who, or what, is Skellig?

Michael was looking forward to moving house. It was all going to be wonderful. But now his baby sister’s ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. What is this thing beneath the spider webs and dead flies? A human being, or a strange kind of beast never seen before? The only person Michael can confide in is Mina. Together they carry the creature into the light, and Michael’s world changes for ever.

David Almond’s own adaptation of his renowned novel, winner of The Carnegie Medal, The Whitbread Children’s Book Award, and a string of prizes around the world. A timeless classic, published in over 40 languages, it touches the minds, hearts and souls of people of all ages. The story has become a movie, an opera, a radio play and this stage play, first produced at the Young Vic, and directed by Trevor Nunn.

The play was first produced at The Young Vic, London, in 2003, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, with David Threlfall as Skellig. It has been widely produced in the UK and abroad. The Birmingham Stage Company production travelled to New York. Major productions have been created in Russia and Japan. It is regularly performed in theatres, colleges and schools around the world.

‘Wearing its mysticism lightly, the play presents this man-bird as no more strange, and no less wonderful, than the owls and dinosaurs that captivate Mina. The central question becomes not so much who Skellig is — angel, alien, missing link — but whether he and the critically ill baby sister Michael loves so fiercely can survive. “Death is all around,” the script says. But so — often improbably and against all odds — is life.’ New York Times

‘Science and spirituality—two subjects that usually oppose each other—come together in radiant metaphysical harmony in Skellig, David Almond’s stage adaptation of his award-winning children’s novel.’ Time Out New York.

‘This is simply an amazing piece of theatre, a fantastic adaptation of the novel. The audience were spellbound.’ The Stage

‘An extraordinary and magical atmosphere with real emotional depth. Skellig is played by Neal Foster with an elemental, force-of-nature magnetism and the audience can’t take their eyes off him. It’s magnificent stuff.’ Time Out