Les Démons

In Demons, Dostoevsky’s primary intention was to write an accusatory, combative work. His visionary genius, however, soon caught up with him. The novel was meant to be the autopsy of a certain kind of revolutionary nihilism, and from which terrorism emerges. At the end of three years of writing, all the characters in this rich intrigue, be they of conservative or progressive ilk, come to terms with the darker sides of their natures and take on a density and depth of their own. Thus, what might have been mere political satire becomes a masterpiece of different writing styles, somewhere between long-running saga and bewildering journey into the realms of darkness. Syvlain Creuzevault’s project, carried off by an outstanding cast, draws upon the force of the novel’s polyphonic “voice-ideas”. With it, he furthers his explorations (begun in 2009 with Notre terreur) into the turbulence left in the wake of the modern-day invention of politics - between the cult of the individual and the all-conquering might of society and the social. Indeed, the tension between these two opposites will be the driving force behind the piece: the plurality of opposing voices and bodies, and the intimate thoughts of the individual who, closed off to the world behind his own whims, becomes tempted by the intoxicating sway of madness and the mystical. In order to give shape to this tension, Creuzevault and his companions will be remaining faithful to their own, very particular way of devising new work. In order to tackle this textual mass of work, they will constantly be immersing themselves in new items of knowledge, and then improvising... “over and over and over again, until the show rears its head”.