Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment will be known to many, having been adapted for stage and screen countless times. Set against the backdrop of an impoverished life in St. Petersburg, we join Rodion Raskolnikov as he descends into madness following his murderous indiscretion. One of the defining aspects of Dostoevsky's seminal work is its length and detail, so it is hard to imagine how such a piece can be distilled into an hour-long theatrical work without losing much of what makes it great. Yet Rebecca Vines' manages to provide us with a script packed with detail, character and the claustrophobic heat of a St. Petersburg summer with relative ease. Those familiar with theSpace on the Mile Theatre 1 will marvel at how Vines manages to direct a cast of ten on such a small stage but again, the feat seems effortless.
A gripping hour that packs a punch
Although there are stand-out performances, this is an ensemble piece in the truest sense of the word. The ten young adults create the oppressive streets and poverty-ridden student quarters with well-disciplined and exacting physical work and the handling of the quickfire script is masterful as each performer crafts their respective characters quickly and with ease. None of them are overdone or undercooked. This is cast without a weak link. They handle the theatrical ebb and flow of Dostoevsky's world with deft skill, commitment to their craft and striking discipline that is often missing from younger casts. Stagecraft is important to an audience's experience of a play. It can be the difference between watching a good show and a great show... and this is a great show. All too often stagecraft is sacrificed for truthful performance. Actors can be as truthful as they like and give the greatest performance of all time, but if the audience can't see or hear them, it is a pointless endeavour. There was nothing pointless about this production. It is a gripping hour that packs a punch and there is no doubt you will see great things from the cast in future.
