The Devils had its first performance at London's Aldwych Theatre in February, 1961, with Dorothy Tutin portraying the deformed and hysterical Sister Jeanne of the Angels, and Richard Johnson as the existential hero, Father Urbain Grandier. Diana Rigg appeared in the supporting role of Philippe and Max Adrian played the zealot exorcist, Father Pierre Barre (Max Adrian himself would go on to appear in the film version of the play, albeit not as Pierre Barre, but as Ibert, the surgeon).[1]
The play's action takes place primarily in Loudun, France in 1634 and revolves around a secular priest Urbain Grandier, whose adamant public opposition to Cardinal Richelieu's ongoing centralization of the French government makes him a hot political target. The hysterical Sister Jeanne, Mother Superior of the Convent of St Ursula, falls in lust with Urbain Grandier, and subsequently accuses him of bewitching her. When these charges of witchcraft are brought against the priest, both church and state move swiftly to destroy him. The investigation, subsequent trial and eventual execution quickly take on a ludicrous carnival-like atmosphere with crazed nuns (including Sister Jeanne herself), dubious medical procedures, ecclesiastical torture and outrageous public exorcisms, all depicted with considerable onstage realism.
David Keltz in scene from The Devils, by John Whiting, at the Corner Theatre ETC in 1976.
Text and adaptation
Readers of both Huxley's book and Whiting's play will note several alterations made for the stage. First, the addition of a Chorus-like character, the Sewerman, who not only provides ironic commentary but assists in the narrative action of the highly episodic play itself. Secondly, the role of Philippe is a composite character, fashioned from two historical figures in Huxley's text: Madeline de Brou and Philippe Trincant, the young and vulnerable daughter of Loudun's Magistrate.
Whiting's The Devils also provided ample text, following some adaptation, for Krzysztof Penderecki's opera, The Devils of Loudun (Die Teufel von Loudun).[9] It was also heavily used by British film director Ken Russell in the preparation for the screenplay of his highly controversial film version, The Devils (1971).
Ken Russell: The Adaptor as Creator by Joseph A. Gomez, Published by Muller in 1976.( ISBN0584102038 / 0-584-10203-8) This text provides a wealth of information about Whiting's adaptation of Huxley's historical novel.
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Symphony No. 3, his St Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis and Utrenja. His oeuvre includes four operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works.
Loudun is a commune in the Vienne department and the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, western France.
Anne Bancroft was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of only 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
Asmodeus or Ashmedai is a prince of demons in Abrahamic religions. In Judeo-Islamic lore he is the king of both daemons (jinn/shedim) and demons (divs). Asmodeus is mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the primary antagonist. In Peter Binsfeld's classification of demons, Asmodeus represents lust. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends; for instance, in the story of the construction of the Temple of Solomon. In Islam, he is identified with the "puppet" mentioned in the Quran.
Urbain Grandier was a French Catholic priest who was burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft, following the events of the so-called "Loudun possessions". Most modern commentators have concluded that Grandier was the victim of a politically motivated persecution led by the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The Devils is a 1971 historical drama horror film written, produced and directed by Ken Russell, and starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. A dramatised historical account of the fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft after the possessions in Loudun, France, the plot also focuses on Sister Jeanne des Anges, a sexually repressed nun who incites the accusations.
Frank A. Langella Jr. is an American actor known for his roles on stage and screen. Langella eschewed the career of a traditional film star by always making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing frequently on Broadway. He has received numerous accolades including four Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Mother Joan of the Angels is a 1961 Polish art film on demonic possession, directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, based on a novella of the same title by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, loosely based on the 17th century Loudun possessions. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival.
John Robert Whiting was an English actor, dramatist and critic.
Judith Lee Ivey is an American actress and theatre director. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: for Steaming (1981) and Hurlyburly (1984). She also received Best Actress In A Play nomination for Park Your Car in Harvard Yard (1992) and another Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination for The Heiress.
The Aix-en-Provence possessions were a series of alleged cases of demonic possession occurring among the Ursuline nuns of Aix-en-Provence in 1611. Father Louis Gaufridi was accused and convicted of causing the possession by a pact with the devil, and he was tortured by strappado and his bones dislocated. He was then executed on April 1611 by strangulation and his body burned. This case provided the legal precedent for the conviction and execution of Urbain Grandier at Loudun more than 20 years later. This event led to possessions spreading to other convents and a witch burning in 1611.
The Loudun possessions, known in French as the Possessed of Loudun Affair, was a notorious witchcraft trial that took place in Loudun, Kingdom of France, in 1634. A convent of Ursuline nuns said they had been visited and possessed by demons. Following an investigation by the Catholic Church, a local priest named Urbain Grandier was accused of summoning the evil spirits. He was eventually convicted of the crimes of sorcery and burned at the stake.
The Devils of Loudun is a 1952 non-fiction novel by Aldous Huxley.
Die Teufel von Loudun is an opera in three acts written in 1968 and 1969 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and then revised in 1972 and 1975. It has a German libretto by the composer, based on John Whiting's dramatization of Aldous Huxley's book of the same name.
Jean-Joseph Surin was a French Jesuit mystic, preacher, devotional writer and exorcist. He is remembered for his participation in the exorcisms of Loudun in 1634-37.
Polish opera may be broadly understood to include operas staged in Poland and works written for foreign stages by Polish composers, as well as opera in the Polish language.
Bernard Ładysz was a Polish bass-baritone and actor. He performed internationally at major opera houses and festivals, known for the title roles of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. His recordings include Lucia di Lammermoor alongside Maria Callas. He took part in the world premieres of Krzysztof Penderecki's opera The Devils of Loudon at the Hamburg State Opera and the bass solo in his St Luke Passion at the Salzburg Festival. As an actor, he played in several films such as The Promised Land in 1974.
Richard Cross is an American bass-baritone who had an active international opera career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. Possessing a rich and warm voice, Cross sang a broad repertoire that encompassed works from a wide variety of musical periods and styles. He currently teaches on the voice faculties of the Yale School of Music, the Juilliard School, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Jeanne des Anges, also known as Jeanne de Belcier, was a French Ursuline nun in Loudun, France. She became mother superior of the convent at a young age, but is chiefly remembered as a central figure in the case of the possessed of Loudun in 1632, which led, after witch trials, to the burning at the stake of the priest Urbain Grandier two years later.
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