Two women, Myra and Gail, are in prison awaiting a meeting of the parole board. Their crimes? Killing children. One woman is optimistic that she will be released. The other is consumed by a sense of injustice – for her, life probably means life. As the parole board deliberates, the women face each other, and the audience, with confessions that confront our attitudes towards crime and punishment.

And All The Children Cried is an extraordinary dramatic inquiry into what people do with their power and their pain—deadly themes of sex and violence, which restlessly surface in contemporary Britain and have been the subject of drama since classical times. Based on the evidence and experience of a number of women, including Myra Hindley, it examines the forces that drive women to kill children and asks the audience if we can ever forgive this crime.

“I never thought I would see a play featuring Myra
Hindley that had integrity. But this is it.” GUARDIAN

The play is followed every night, after an interval, by a debate, in which we invite the audience to ask questions, voice opinions and discuss the issues contained in the play: justice, morality, protection of children, sexual politics, psychology, policy, and the media—amongst others. A panel of specialists, each night unique, will lead Act 2: The Debate, providing a wide range of informed and constructive views on the difficult issues raised.

“An invitation to engage with a thorny subject, not an
assault on our sensibilities ... it is the most astounding
piece of theatre I’ve seen in years.” YORKSHIRE POST

Originally presented at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2002, And All The Children Cried transferred for a sell-out London run at the New End Theatre in 2003. In both presentations it has been a critical success, winning 5-star reviews and appearing on national critics’ choice shortlists (read the reviews). A co-production by IDX Productions and New End Theatre, was selected to run at BAC as part of the annual Time Out Critics’ Choice Season, in 2004.

This is a first play by Beatrix Campbell and Judith Jones, a journalist and a social worker respectively. They bring together twenty-five years of experience working with the impact of violence - physical, sexual and psychological - on both victims and perpetrators.