Writer: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Adaptor: Laurie Sansom
Director: Laurie Sansom
In a world dominated by dystopian fiction where people find themselves arrested for crimes they didn’t commit, or for crimes that aren’t even specified to them, and probably wouldn’t fit known definitions of crime if they were, Crime and Punishment is an oddity. The lead character, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, knows the crime he has committed – double murder – even if both he and the audience are unsure of the reason why he did it. Northern Broadsides new adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 19th century classic, takes a stripped down approach to the story that makes the motive seem obvious before diving into the murkier waters that lie beneath it.
Director and adaptor Laurie Sansom has reduced the play down from a 750 page novel into a two act play that comes in at two hours. On top of that, he has cut around 40 characters from the book and used only three actors to play the parts that remain. Connor Curren plays Raskolnikov only, leaving Niall Costigan and Trudy Akobeng to play multiple named and unnamed roles.
This is a brave decision and unusual for a company not normally associated with small scale productions. The problems of cutting so much from the book are highlighted in the first act as various story strands battle for space alongside each other creating a sense of confusion and disorientation, as well as limiting the space for characters to emerge. Raskolinov moves from awkward conversations with Nastasya, the servant of his landlady, to confrontations with pawnbroker Alonya Ivanova where he tries to get the money he needs for his rent, and drinks with Marmeladov, a former civil servant who befriends him in a bar. Each scene is episodic but doesn’t fully build into a bigger whole.
At the same time, the fragmented nature of the act succeeds in making the crime, when it happens, all the more incongruous. The seeds for the murder of Ivanova are sown early on, making the viciousness of the crime and how it could be committed by a seemingly withdrawn intellectual who is more prone to philosophising than taking decisive action to resolve problems, as the only surprises.
The second act has a clearer narrative as Raskolinov contemplates his own motivations and becomes torn between desires to confess to some people, lie to others, and outwit the chief investigator, Porfidy Petrovich. As each interaction reveals something about his motives for the murder while also adding to his own inner conflict around who he is and what he wants to be, Curren gives a fantastic performance conveying a man torn between his conflicting impulses and desires and never comfortable within his own skin.
Joanne Bernard’s movement direction also works to bring out his neuroses as he walks across and around the stage counting the number of steps to take him from his apartment to the scene of the murder. It also brings a fluidity to the switch between scenes and setting as component parts of Rose Revitt’s set are introduced and removed while the core setting of Raskolinov’s bedroom stays as a prominent reminder that most, if not all, of the action could be playing out in his mind only.
Costigan gives a distinct personality and mannerisms to his characters, which worked for the most part but did result in Petrovich appearing more like a Steve Pemberton caricature cop from Inside Number 9 than a compelling investigator. There was less distinction between the roles played by Akobeng with the characters of Dunya, Razumikhin and Nastasya being hard to tell apart, making the switches between them confusing.
In his programme notes, Sansom says that the production still feels like a work in progress, and there was a sense that this isn’t yet a finished product. Overall, it felt as if the production has not pushed as many boundaries as it could have done. The distinction between the real and the imagined could be clearer, and it could do with slightly fewer characters or slightly more actors to play them, so that Raskolinov’s head reaches a suitable level of occupation to capture the voices inside it.
It will be interesting to see whether this is the first step towards a larger production. If it isn’t, the production will stand as something that was good, but did not fulfil the potential of what it could have been.
Runs until 4 April | Image: Contributed
