A Stranger in our House

Written and Directed by Bradley Barlow

A married couple struggling to make ends meet take in a lodger, a new arrival in town. Struggling with visions of a dead child and bearing a striking resemblance to a recently released prisoner, his arrival causes a stir in the local community and exposes cracks in the family’s relationships. A blistering exploration of guilt, justice and modern Britain asking how well do you really know the people in your life?

Contains strong language and scenes of an adult nature.

Notes from the programme

I’ve always been fascinated by what causes moral panic and outrage in society and A Stranger in our House acts as a cautionary tale of sorts, bubbling up in a pressure cooker in a drive to discover someone’s true identity.

I was 11 years old when the murder of two-year-old James Bulger hit the headlines, the nation shocked as it was revealed his life was taken by two young boys the same age as me. The media scrutiny was intense, their mugshots plastered on every front page, the vitriol from the general public showing no sign of abating.

As the years passed, the tabloids led the charge in campaigns to outlaw ‘video nasties’ they held responsible for the murder as well as weeding out the sex offenders in our midsts. In 2000, a Newport-based paediatrician was driven from her home when self-styled vigilantes confused her professional title. Similarly, five families who were wrongly identified as harbouring sex offenders were forced to flee their homes in the Paulsgrove estate in Portsmouth as violence flared. With the rise of social media, so-called paedophile hunters have made a name for themselves by exposing alleged offenders to their legions of followers, unsupported by the police.

The death of a child, especially one so brutal, evokes a primal rage in a lot of people. That anger has never gone away and in the years since his release, photos alleging to be of one of Bulger’s killers have made their way on to social media but without any form of verification, potentially ruining an innocent person’s life.

Are the actions of vigilantes ever justified? Should we have the right to take the law into our own hands? And what happens when it all goes wrong?

This play doesn’t propose to have the answers, but hopefully will get the audience thinking and talking about the consequences of these various actions.

I can’t thank the cast and creative team enough for their hard work and dedication to this production, going along with all of my fanciful notions and crazy ideas – I’ve loved working with you all and hopefully you’ll agree that it was all worth it in the end! I’m so proud of you and can’t wait for the audience reactions to your brilliant performances!

Press coverage

How well do you really know the people in your life? – Titchfield Festival Theatre, 13 December 2022 (read here)

Titchfield Festival Theatre premieres new play inspired by Jamie Bulger killing – The News, 8 January 2023 (read here)

Audience feedback

“A brave vision of modern life”

“A bold piece of writing and has nods to Ravenhill and Kane with its In Yer Face moments and surrealist passages”

“An unforgettable evening of theatre”

“The themes covered in this spiders web of a text need to have a quality team at the helm and were guided by an intelligent director who used so many elements of theatrical art one wondered what was next”