Aalst

A programme text produced with the National Theatre of Scotland to coincide with the UK tour, Aalst is a powerful and disturbing drama about two parents who murder their children.

The play is based on real events from the Belgian town of Aalst in 1999 where the ensuing high profile and dramatic trial led to much soul-searching in the Belgian media.

A young couple check into a hotel with their two small children. A week passes before the police make a chilling discovery.

In 2005 Belgian theatre company, Victoria, dramatised the case, working from source material including statements and interviews, TV footage of the trial and a documentary on the murder investigation.

Produced in theatres and festivals across Europe, Aalst has built a reputation as a powerful and complex piece of modern theatre which raises disturbing questions that have no easy answer.