Your Stage : Under the Bed by Tony Hooper

Thought I'd share the latest update here too: A while ago, my wife wrote this, and I thought I'd share some of it here. "Over the years as a wife and mother, I have tried my best to make our home environment, pretty much, a sanctuary. That no matter how bad work was for Tony, or school for Alister (and in a few years Will), they could come home, shut all of that out, and feel safe, loved, relaxed, happy, and be themselves. Sadly, this is not the home environment that thousands of kids the world over come home to, and it was not the environment that Tony came home to as a child. When Tony showed me the first draft of the script for 'Under the Bed' I cried, because while I knew that Tony had had this childhood, I had never seen him express so emotionally what he went through. I find it entirely impossible to wrap my brain around how anyone could hurt a child the way he had been hurt, there are children still suffering this trauma and worse today, and it needs to be stopped. " When I penned the script, I wanted to convey the emotion first and foremost. To an audience from a normal loving home, they would have little comprehension as to what it means for a child in a domestic violence home. Because for those in happy homes, how do you comprehend an actual horror playing daily throughout our communities? When the monsters are very much real, that dark area under the bed is nothing to fear at all. When the violence you see in TV is comparable to your home (or in some cases no where near as bad as home), as a child the emotional turmoil and fear can very well be overwhelming. I have tried to bring this to life so that through the eyes and thoughts of a child, the true horror and pain is told. The script is quite different to a typical film, or for a typical short film. While not wanting to give anything away, the different elements combined, play quite differently while still having the capacity to impart emotion. And if script reads are anything to go by, the emotion conveyed will share an understanding of the trauma of domestic violence. Hopefully, raising awareness and empowering people to say No More. Thanks to all our backers on the journey so far.