WHAT are you prepared to do to change the world? What would you damage? Who would you destroy?

These questions will be addressed in Demons, a contemporary adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s novel by York playwright Hannah Davies and university lecturer Tom Cornford, to be staged at two York locations next month.

Students from the University of York's department of film, theatre and television (TFTV) will present the production in tandem with York company Common Ground Theatre and York community arts forum The Fleeting Arms.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1872 novel Demons explores a society wherein the poor and powerless are governed by a tiny number of the super-rich, in which the young are disenfranchised and the old are secure and complacent. In the cracks between these extremes, a small group of activists begins to grow, determined to fight the grotesque inequalities that surround them, but how can they change them and how far should they go?

This contemporary adaptation relocates Dostoyevsky’s story to the present day and asks what we should be prepared to do to make a new world. Tom Cornford, TFTV lecturer in theatre, says: "It's incredibly exciting to be getting to grips with Dostoyevsky's novel about radical political action and asking how it relates to our lives in 2015. It's even more exciting to be doing that with both professional artists and students from the university who are just starting out as theatre-makers and voting for the first time.

"We're relocating the novel to the present day and making a challenging, gutsy and thrilling 90 minutes of theatre, which we hope will make audiences think about what it means to be a member of society. We're delighted that in addition to performing in the wonderful Scenic Stage Theatre at the university's department of theatre, film and television, we'll be adapting the production to transfer to The Fleeting Arms on Gillygate, York's new pop-up community arts venue.”

This production, funded by the Sylvia and Colin Shepherd Charitable Trust, will be the fifth annual summer production since the TFTV department moved to its facilities on Heslington East Campus in September 2010.

Performance dates will be June 12 to 14 at 7.30pm at the university and June 17 and 18 at 7.30pm at The Fleeting Arms. University tickets are on sale at demonsyork.com/; Fleeting Arms at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk