Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, Demons: Dostoevsky is synonymous with lengthy tomes, and this reworking of the aforementioned Demons doesn’t let its author down in terms of length. Over three hours in St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, this tragic satire adapted and directed by Peter Stürm, attempts to reveal Dostoyevsky’s Russian prophecy.

It’s timely – Russia is all the rage with the centenary of the 1917 revolution this year – and the final performance will take place on 11 November, Dostoyevsky’s birthday. Yet as it seeks to commemorate the complicated work and equally complicated history of Russia, a confusing script and countless scene changes (the audience is led back and forth from church to hall to stairway and back again) mean that even those well acquainted with the tale would be forgiven for asking ‘what is actually going on?’ Dostoyevsky’s complex prose nihilism doesn’t seem to translate well to the stage.

The opening scene, flooded with actors (this is undeniably overcast), is disjointed, unclear and errs on the side of a school play. Rustling from the audience indicates a collective reach for the admittedly very comprehensive program to check up on the details. It feels like an accidental leap into the surreal.

That said, it gets better. The plot manages to pop its head to the surface and take in some air, breathing life into a flagging audience who perk up halfway through (although this may well have been due to the free tea at the interval). By the end, I confess I had some sense of a story, the plotting Russian cell and a tussle with God, yet there is a sense of too little too late and sadly the seating felt a little roomier than it did pre-interval.

There are some striking performances that must be singled out. Samuel Collings (who recently starred in Boudica at Shakespeare’s Globe) is a brooding and emotionally charged Stavrogin. Laura Sophia Becker is also strangely enthralling in her turn as Marya, his secret wife. Valerie Gogan also does well in her roles as Varvara and Arina Virginsky. The rest of the numerous cast members show equal enthusiasm for the piece, and they should be praised for keeping going, and showing ‘commitment to the cause’.

While it may be a beautiful venue (to which I plan to return), and the acting edges into something quite powerful, it can’t be denied that Demons feels like an endurance test, and not one that I would repeat.

Demons played St Leonard’s Church until November 11 2017. Find out more about Split Moon Theatre here.

Photo: Bronwen Sharp