Crime, Conscience and Redemption
By Mae E. Klingler

If one element has been in abundance during this season’s Shelterhouse line-up at the Playhouse in the Park, it’s variety. Associate Artistic Director Michael Evan Haney’s upcoming production of Crime and Punishment could hardly be more different than the most recent Shelterhouse production (and Broadway extravaganza) that was The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!).

This thrilling psychological drama, based on the novel published in 1866 by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky and now adapted for the stage, follows the story of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a young student who plans, commits and is suffering for the murder of two elderly women.

As the show begins, Detective Porfiry Petrovich questions Raskolnikov about the death of a pawn broker with whom he had left several pieces. The play explores Raskolnikov’s theory that there are both ordinary and extraordinary men in the world and an extraordinary man has the right to commit crimes if doing so will benefit the greater humanity.

Porfiry must rely on the information provided by prostitute and Raskolnikov’s penniless neighbor, Sonia, to solve the investigation and guide Raskolnikov to confession.

In the Playhouse’s heart-racing 90-minute production, Dostoevsky’s timeless masterpiece gets a stark, bracing and stunningly theatrical re-visioning in which just three actors portray the novel’s key characters. The book, adapted for the stage by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, has been distilled and stripped down to its most essential moments and themes.

Focusing heavily on Raskolnikov’s search for redemption and his subsequent spiral into mental anguish, the plot offers a deep look into the psychological and spiritual landscape of Raskolnikov’s tortured mind. As the one pure soul in the play, Sonia attempts to help him navigate his moral crisis, taking an active role in Raskolnikov’s psychological and spiritual journey.

“One of the things that this play does is it creates a vortex around Raskolnikov,” says director Michael Haney. “His conscience, his guilt about committing this crime and his mind are torturing him. People come and they go and nothing is sort of linear in the show, so one of the things we had to deal with was how we bring people on, how we get them off and how we make it seem like it’s out of Raskolnikov’s control.”

Dostoevsky began writing Crime and Punishment in 1865 after the deaths of both his wife and brother the previous year. Devastated by these losses, his increasing business debts and an obligation to provide for his remaining family, he sank into a deep depression and could be comforted only by his very frequent trips to local gambling parlors.

By one account, Crime and Punishment, possibly his best-known novel, was completed in a mad rush as a way to reconcile his mounting gambling debts and stave off his many angry creditors.

Returning to the Playhouse in the role of Sonia is Deborah Knox, who was last seen as Susan Smith in last season’s chilling production of 1:23. Debuting at the Playhouse in this production are Nick Cordileone, who will play Raskolnikov, and John Campion, playing Porfiry.

The production will be directed by Michael Evan Haney with other members of the creative team including costume designer Trish Rigdon and sound designer/composer Fitz Patton.

With a stunning cast, exceptional direction and Dostoevsky’s timeless story, your only crime would be in not seeing it.