Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s sprawling novel, Crime and Punishment, is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It is a brilliant study of a criminal mind and peopled with a cast of characters too numerous to catalogue that was created well before Freud made his psychological discoveries. The novel ranges over multiple locations in a poor section of St. Petersberg to explore the value of a human’s life relative to its place in society; the role of nutrition in mental stability; and the nature of redemption. Whew! You may be thinking: How can someone get all of that on one stage at one time?
A Noise Within has a utilitarian answer to that: whittle it down to one over-arching theme and a simple setting consisting of a desk, a settee, with three stories of stair-steps on which the plight of the main character, the student Raskolnikov, unfolds. Distilled to the significant actions in the novel, the play runs under 90 minutes without an intermission.
To condense the plot, adaptors Marilyn Campbell and Curt Colombus recast the story as a dream or perhaps a nightmare in which Raskolnikov (played by Michael A. Newcomer) relives the murdering of an unsuspecting pawnbroker and her sister. To help with the dramatization, versatile actors Robertson Dean and Holly Hawkins play an array of supporting characters.
The centerpiece of this staging consists of the debate between Raskolnikov and his nemesis, Porfiry (Dean), who works relentlessly to wrest a confession from the tortured young man by entrapping him in his own argument: that the level of the crime is determined by the social value of the deceased. This streamlined version depends upon melding past and present tense to maintain suspense; therefore, it is a bit unnerving when, to illustrate the point, house lights come up full on the audience. The young student roams the stage asking “Is it better to kill an old woman who’s going to die anyway, than for young people to suffer?” Fortunately, the lights go out again before anyone in the audience has the temerity to answer.
Although Newcomer aptly depicts the mounting tension of his character’s plight, kudos must go to his fellow actors for their versatility. They excel at swiftly drawn characterizations, each imbued with emotional truth. In particular, Dean’s Porfiry is cheeky, needling and effective while Hawkins effortlessly segs from an old crone pawnbroker to the attractive prostitute Sonia.
Michael C. Smith’s well-designed twisting staircases (beautifully lit by James P. Taylor) provide the perfect labyrinth for the multiplicity of locations; Christina Haatainen-Jones’ contributes realism to the surreal events and the unidentified music maintains an atmosphere of dread. While the feverish guilt personal squalor and mental agony Dostoevsky so masterfully sets down in his novel, can never be adequately represented on a stage, A Noise Within’s rendition provides enough of a taste that audiences will want to sample the book to learn more.
PHOTO: Porfiry (Robertson Dean) confronts Raskolnikov (Michael A. Newcomer) while Sonya (Holly Hawkins) looks on.
Crime and Punishment performs in repertory with Richard III and Noises Off at A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale 91204, through December 17th . See www.anoisewithin.org for complete schedule. Tickets from $40.00 to $44.00. For tickets, phone (818) 240-0910, ext. 1 or online.