Beat the Devil
Covid-19 seems to be a sort of dirty bomb, thrown into the body to cause havoc.
On the same day that the UK government finally made the first of two decisive interventions that led to a conspicuously late lockdown, David Hare contracted Covid-19. Nobody seemed to know much about it then, and many doctors are not altogether sure they know much more today. Suffering a pageant of apparently random symptoms, Hare recalls the delirium of his illness, which mixed with fear, dream, honest medicine and dishonest politics to create a monologue of furious urgency and power.
Beat the Devil was screened on Sky Arts on 11 November 2021.
Dates
The Bridge, London
27 August – 31 October 2020
Creative Team
Writer David Hare
Director Nicholas Hytner
Design Bunny Christie
Lighting Design Jon Clark
Sound Design Gareth Fry
Music George Fenton
Researcher Sophie Johnston