Projects
Becoming a Monster
Becoming a Monster
At its heart, this project invites people to step into my experiences — to walk a mile in my shoes and feel the journey with empathy.
The immersive nature of the piece is central to that. By placing the viewer at the heart of the story, it asks them not just to witness moments, but to reflect on their own. In doing so, it creates real connection — the kind that happens when a story isn’t simply told, but truly lived.
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£50,000
Plato once said "The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world." That’s exactly what this award represents to me ... the chance to create empathy. The chance for others to walk in my shoes, even for a moment and hopefully feel a little less alone in this busy world."
Aims of the project
With this project I’m bringing the idea of Becoming a Monster to life — an immersive XR headset experience that invites audiences to step inside a series of interconnected memories drawn from my poem Remove the Knot and further explored in my autobiographical theatre show The Making of a Monster.
It invites people fully into my world — shaped by abandonment, anger and loss yet ultimately transforming into hope and self-acceptance. Through intuitive immersive technology, audiences don’t watch these memories from a distance; they experience them from the inside.
Blending spoken word with immersive 3D environments, the work pushes my storytelling into a new dimension — exploring the limits of language, the power of memory and how stories evolve when technology opens new doors.
Meet the artists
Connor Allen
Lead Artist
he/him
Connor Allen is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and former Children’s Laureate of Wales (2021–2023). An Associate Artist at The Riverfront, Newport, he has worked with National Theatre Wales, Sherman Theatre and the BBC. His debut show The Making of a Monster premiered at Wales Millennium Centre in 2022 and won the Imison Award in 2023 for its radio adaptation.
A former member of BBC Welsh Voices, Welsh Royal Court Writers Group and Hay Festival’s Writers at Work, his work explores identity, masculinity, love and grief. His poetry collections Dominoes and Miracles were published in 2023.
He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from The University of South Wales.
Will Humphreys
Lead XR designer and Collaborator
he/him
Will works for Sugar Creative who are the leading UK based creative innovation studio specialising in immersive storytelling in AR & VR and will lead the XR headset experience through their expertise.
