PATRICK Ness’s play A Monster Calls, developed from an original idea by the late Siobhan Dowd, comes to the Merlin Theatre in Frome from 20th to 22nd November, performed by members of Frome Drama and directed by Calum Grant.

Set in the present day, the story centres on 13-year-old Conor, whose mother is dying from an incurable disease. Every night he is awakened by a nightmare of a monster, who tells him three stories. Each is aimed at helping him understand his conflicting feelings about his mother’s impending death.

Siobhan Dowd envisaged the story when she was in the latter stages of inoperable cancer.

In Conor’s story he must cope with bullying at school as well as his emotionally-detached grandmother and his absentee father as well as his mother’s condition.

Performances at Frome are nightly at 7.30. Audience members should leave additional time to get to the Merlin, to allow for the major roadworks south of the theatre.