Cast Set For the World Premiere of THESE DEMONS at Theatre503

The cast has been announced for Tanya Truman Productions and Theatre503’s These Demons, a thrilling new dark comedy, premiering at Theatre503 this September. Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, this debut play from writer Rachel Bellman explores Jewish demonology in an intimate family drama about sisterhood, ‘otherness’ and the stigma of the village witch.

The cast includes Olivia Marcus as Leah (Extraordinary, Disney Plus; Stath Lets Flats, Channel 4; Bad Education, BBC Three), 2023 Stage Debut Award nominee Liv Andrusier as Danielle (Ride, Leicester Curve, Southwark Playhouse and Charing Cross Theatre; Little Women, Park Theatre) and Ann Marcuson (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, National Theatre; The Family Reunion, Donmar Warehouse; Two Ladies, Bridge Theatre) as Mirah. 

Directed by Jasmine Teo (The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Pentameters); A Christmas Carol, Bridge Theatre; Graceland, The Royal Court), These Demons follows 17-year-old Leah as she takes it upon herself to find the perpetrator responsible for putting her aunt Mirah in hospital. As her search for answers fast becomes a search for demons, Leah begins to unearth forgotten sides of Jewish history, in a production which asks its audience to consider how much we do and do not know about who we are, and where we come from.

Writer Rachel Bellman comments, I’ve been excited and afraid to tell this story for a number of years now. Jewish demonology isn’t something I learned about while growing up, but as soon as I heard of its existence, I wanted to write about it. The more I tried to research it, the less I felt I knew. To me this is a story about what we do and don’t know about who we are, where we’re from, and all the nagging, darker thoughts that creep up on us but we’re afraid to admit. 

Director Jasmine Teo comments, From the moment Rachel told me about the concept for These Demons I was struck by its originality and uniqueness. Over the past two and a half years we’ve worked together to develop a modern-day horror/thriller/comedy, a genre-blending tale which is entertaining but pertinent, speaks to a multitude of cultural communities and is unlike anything else I’ve come across. I can’t wait to bring it to life on stage.

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