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St Eusebius is living as a hermit in the Egyptian desert, alone but for a tower of his own excrement, and the maggots that live in his festering flesh. With nothing to do but self-flagellate, he is quite content surviving on black olives, water and a whole lot of self-righteousness. Enter a mysterious second hermit, with an order from God to evict Eusebius from the desert. A contest - staged as a bizarre wrestling-match - as to who is holier than whom, begins. Witty and rude and full of the energy of its era, Noonday Demons explores themes - zealotry, and extreme violence performed in the name of God - all too frighteningly familiar in today's world. Slapstick and music-hall ventriloquism, rude jokes, levitation, the rhetoric of religious fervour, a pile of human shit and a great deal of violence, blend to create a comedy which demands to be taken seriously.

Creatives/Company

Author: Peter Barnes