Guilt, Neuroses, Death

A New Adaptation of Crime and Punishment

By Jesse Renee Hopkins

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The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre and Fyodor Dostoevsky would like to say: if you're thinking of committing murder, you should probably just drop the whole idea and go see a play instead. After all, being an ax murderer isn't really all it's cracked up to be. To get an idea of how hard it will be to rid your conscience of guilt after you've committed the crime, imagine pacing, sweating, and starving in the streets of 19th century Russia. Imagine growing so ill at the thought of what you did that pieces of your psyche come out your nose every time you sneeze. And finally, while you're sneezing, try saying "Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov" five times fast. The fact is, you just won't be able to do it, no matter how extraordinary you think you are.

Earlier this month, the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket opened its 2005-2006 season with a new adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment. The play is directed by Peter Sampieri and performed by Tony Estrella, Richard Donelly and Casey Seymour Kim. The adaptation, written by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Adaptation in 2003.

Although short and simplified, the play manages to bring the main themes of the novel onto the stage by remaining faithful to the plot and using unconventional narrative techniques to highlight the story's central ideas. Director Sampieri makes good use of a small stage by incorporating a screen that the actors occasionally stand behind, ghost-like, to portray removed characters, visions, and memories. Furthermore, the intimate setting of the Gamm Theatre makes for a close encounter with scenic tensions and sweaty actors, an in-your-face experience that is sometimes missed in larger venues.

Death in Petrograd

Campbell and Columbus' Crime and Punishment follows the torturous life of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student living in a dingy flat in St. Petersburg. Raskolnikov is a proud but sickly young man who maintains grandiose ideas about the nature of God, justice and responsibility in the midst of his persistent deprivation. His poverty—as well as that of his friends and family—leads him to question why people of integrity rarely get ahead, why virtue alone is rarely rewarded; and why he, an educated and sincere young man, got stuck living a seemingly meaningless life of constant struggle.

Desperate to feel significant, Raskolnikov decides to rob and murder his stingy pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, in an attempt to create a greater good from the death of the old woman. He murders Alyona in her apartment with an ax. While Raskolnikov is rummaging through the old woman's money, he is met by Alyona's sister Lizaveta and, in a nervous fury, kills her as well.

Raskolnikov is played by Tony Estrella, artistic director of the Gamm Theatre. Estrella succeeds in portraying the character as a young, impassioned student who has a tendency to let his ideologies rule his instincts. Estrella seems stuffed with heavy emotion and constantly on the brink of exploding, which works well at those points in the story when Raskolnikov is especially distraught. For example, one of the strongest moments in the play is a monologue in which Raskolnikov recounts a dream he had of a horse being beaten to death by its driver. He recalls being a child and watching the horse's back breaking from the beating while a crowd of onlookers jeered. In this monologue, Estrella's performance is both concentrated and frenzied, two qualities that make for a moving narration about relentless abuse and the sinister capabilities of ordinary people. It is a poignant and horrifying moment in the show that brings the best and worst out of everyone in the theater.

At the same time, Estrella has a tendency to flail and burst a little too often, making it too easy to predict what his next move will be. Sometimes, he appears to interpret the psychologically and physically ill Raskolnikov as little more than a neurotic man who enjoys assuming the fetal position and sneezing like a sick poodle. It's not so much Estrella's ability as an actor that seems lacking, but his interpretation of Raskolnikov as overtly emotional that makes it too easy to miss the character's emotional climax. After a while, Estrella's explosions don't make sense when he's already been letting off so much steam. There is a want for a dramatic build, but it never comes.

Thank god there are prostitutes

It's possible, though, that this lack of dramatic progression comes more from the script itself than from the acting. The play is not written chronologically like the book; instead, it weaves back and forth in time, pumping out several climactic scenes in a short span of time. Director Peter Sampieri explains, "The play, like the novel, is a classical piece with character development and humanism—but in a non-linear experimental theater form." There are moments in which this weave of tensions works well, but it leaves the actual climax of the story feeling uneventful.

The unconventional script does have its merits, though. Its use of repetition, for example, is powerful and effective. The Bible's story of Lazarus frames the play on either end, and Raskolnikov's recurring question of whether or not God grants peace to the dead is eerie and moving. This repetition is an excellent representation of the cyclical haunt lurking in Raskolnikov's conscience.

As Raskolnikov's guilt overcomes him, his need for forgiveness and redemption becomes vital. His only solace is Sonya, a young and religious prostitute working to support her family while her father is drinking and her mother is dying. Unlike Raskolnikov, Sonya receives her unfortunate situation with humility and patience. Recognizing that so much of her life is out of her control, she chooses to give her own control over to God and, in doing so, is fulfilled through her faith.

Casey Seymour Kim, who plays the role of Sonya and three other characters, gives the strongest performance in the show. Kim's acting is deliberate, a strength that seems to ground the show and keep it in line. As Sonya, she is realistic and believable without being boring. But strangely enough, her strongest performance is not that of Sonya, but of the pawnbroker's sister Lizaveta, a quirky and precise character who seems to take hold of Kim, instead of the other way around.

Meanwhile Porfiry Petrovich, the magistrate in charge of investigating the murder of the pawnbroker, is keeping a close watch on Raskolnikov. He is a somewhat sympathetic character who remains amiable towards Raskolnikov even while suspecting him of the murder. At the same time, Petrovich is a shrewd detective and well-versed in criminal psychology. As he keeps a keen eye on Raskolnikov's deteriorating mental state, the conflict between the two becomes a kind of slow-paced mind chase.

Petrovich is played by Richard Donelly, a veteran of the Gamm Theatre. Donelly plays the character as a kind and energetic magistrate who remains lighthearted even while speaking to a murderer. As a result, the audience is too trustworthy of Donelly's character, which diminishes Raskolnikov's role as protagonist. In the novel, Dostoevsky establishes Petrovich as a character who is much less straightforward and sympathetic; it would be interesting, therefore, to see what Donelly might do with a bit more ambiguity and depth.

Interior Diving

The story delves into complicated realms of psychological and existential anguish that elevate the story far above a simple crime drama. As Raskolnikov's psyche is cracked open and released, the audience is allowed to peer into the confused and corrupt parts of the human soul. As actor Tony Estrella explains, "Through the character of Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky demands that each of us reconcile our capacity for extreme violence and boundless self-deception."

The dramatic adaptation of this multi-dimensional story plays out in the same concise manner as the reading of a plot summary in Spark Notes or a well-written high school essay. Nearly everything that happens on the stage happens in the book in some form or another, but the story is considerably simplified in order to fit it into a certain length of time and space. The play does not mention either Raskolnikov's sister Dunya or the suicidal Svidrigailov, two dynamic characters that expand the themes of the novel. Therefore, it appears that the goal of this particular adaptation of Crime and Punishment is to skim the surface of the plot, while choosing particular points along the way in which to plunge. These points of interest are most often Raskolnikov's inner battles, a consistency of writing that keeps the most important thread of the plot clear and strong.

The show is not fantastic, but it's good enough. Fans of Dostoevsky will find the play entertaining and familiar. Others will come away from the show with a crash course in an incredible Russian novel.

Crime and Punishment runs through October 9 at the Sandra-Feinstein Gamm Theatre. Call 401-723-4266 for tickets.

Jessie Renee Hopkins B'08 can morph into the Cheshire Cat.

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