Devils

Within the cloister of provincial French nunnery at Loudun, rumour has spoken to Sister Jeanne of the Angels of the libertine priest, Urbain Grandier. A vision of him as spiritual adviser to the order possesses her. When the rejects the offer of the Mother Superior, she accuses him of filling the nun's minds through the power of Satan with filth and lust. For the clerics who are jealous of his brilliance in preaching, for the laity who disapprove of his luxury, and for Richelieu, the 'eminence grise' over all France, who resents his political influence, the hysterical possession of the nuns is a sword against Grandier. Their charge for his trial is diabolism.

The Devils, based upon Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun, was commissioned by the directors of the Stratford-on-Avon company and produced at the Aldwych Theatre, London, this year. It has been acclaimed by critics for possessing a power in its writing that has not been evident in the English theatre since the drama of Webster (*publisher description*)