Demons

a contemporary adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s novel

written by Hannah Davies and directed by Tom Cornford

with the students of the Theatre, Film and Television Department, University of York

What are you prepared to do to change the world? What would you damage? Who would you destroy?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1872 novel Demons explores a society in which the poor and powerless are governed by a tiny number of the super-rich, in which the young are disenfranchised and the old are secure and complacent.

In the cracks between these extremes, a small group of activists begins to grow. They are determined to fight the grotesque inequalities that surround them. But how can they change them and how far should they go? This contemporary adaptation relocates Dostoyevsky’s story to the present day and asks what we should be prepared to do to make a new world.

This production is produced in association with Common Ground Theatre and The Fleeting Arms. Funded with the generous support of The Sylvia and Colin Shepherd Charitable Trust.