The Harrowing of Hell.26 is a 2026 experimental and abstract adaptation of the medieval Harrowing of Hell narrative, created from English mystery plays (York Cycle, Towneley Plays, Ludus Coventriae, Chester Cycle) and rewritten into contemporary English.
Week 6 — Burton Taylor Studio — 9:30–10:30pm – https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/the-harrowing-of-hell
Week 7 — The Crypt of St Peter-in-the-East — 8:00–9:00pm – www.ticketsource.com/theharrowingofhell
With: Thomas Arensen (Satan), Ian Machalek (Jesus), Elizabeth Henderson-Millier (Devil 1), Sonny Fox (Devil 2), Anastasija Vidjajeva (Eve), Caleb Silvergleid (Adam), Patrizia Hinz (Narrator)
Plot: For 4000 years, Satan has ruled Hell and guarded the souls of the dead. After the Crucifixion, Christ descends into Hell to reclaim them and dismantle the kingdom Satan built. The play opens in an exhausted, decaying Hell where Satan, far from triumphant, has become the prisoner of his own creation, haunted by the voices, smells, and bodies of the souls who have been condemned. A narrator forces both the audience and Satan to witness the spectacle of his downfall, imposing upon him the slow collapse and reconfiguration of his kingdom.
Around him, demons transform suffering into ritual. Their violent games perpetually reenact a grotesque mechanism. Hell becomes an obsessive choreography in which exhausted bodies repeat the same gestures endlessly, trapped within laws that even Satan no longer fully controls. Meanwhile, Adam and Eve drift between terror, dependence, and tenderness toward the very being who imprisons them. As an unknown presence begins to press against the walls of Hell, the fragile balance of this decaying world starts to fracture. Christ arrives not as a merciful redeemer, but as a violent intrusion: abandoned by both God and mankind, he descends to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his, tearing apart the miserable order in which these souls have painfully learned to survive. Yet what Christ offers is far from simple salvation. The inhabitants of Hell no longer know how to imagine life outside the systems that have shaped them. Adam and Eve hesitate to leave Satan behind, even as they continue to suffer under his power.
The play asks whether escape from Hell truly means submission, or whether salvation itself can become another form of violence. The Harrowing of Hell.26 is a piece about domination, exhaustion, attachment, and the terrifying uncertainty of liberation itself.
Warning: Contains religious (Christian) themes, elements of irreverence, and depictions of psychological distress
From the Cast Call
About the director: Méryl Vourch is an Oxford Visiting Student at Merton College. She has worked as an assistant director with Laurent Delvert and Denis Podalydès at the Opéra de Lille (Gounod’s Faust, May 2025), and assisted Caroline Staunton (Don Giovanni, Opéra Bastille, 2023) and Mariame Clément (Don Giovanni, Glyndebourne Festival, 2023). As a director, she has staged three productions in Paris: Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland (Théâtre Nicole Loraux, 2024–2025), and Mamma Mia! (MPAA, 2025).
We will be performing our play in week 6 (2 to 6 June) at the Burton Taylor Studio, from 9:30 to 10:30pm and in week 7 (9 to 11 June, tbc) in the crypt of St-Peter-in-the-East (St Edmund Hall), from 8 to 9pm. We are still missing three roles (Adam, Eve, and a demon; all backgrounds welcome, aged 18+). There were auditions on 25/26 April, but anyone who was unavailable is very welcome to contact the director by email for further information.
Roles Available
- One demon (one of two): part of a grotesque and comic duo—agents of chaos, both cruel and ridiculous, frustrated by their condition.
- Adam and Eve: a bourgeois couple frozen in time, marked by long waiting, repetitive gestures, and a certain passivity
All roles include some choreographed scenes (minimal movement required).
Auditions
Please prepare a monologue of your choice (2–5 minutes) and an extract from the audition pack for your chosen role. Contact : meryl.vourch@merton.ox.ac.uk if you are interested or have any questions! If the audition dates have already passed but you are still interested, you are very welcome to contact us.