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Crime and Punishment

"In a feat that rivals the construction of the Hoover Dam, Crime and Punishment has been distilled into a taut 90-minute play that will banish any bad memories you might have of trying to struggle through Dostoyevsky's book. Just three actors tell the tale and may have you confessing to some murders yourself by the play's end."

The New York Times

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 90 minutes

  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings

  • Performance Group:
  • High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Adaptation
    Winner! L.A. Backstage Garland Award for Best New Adaptation
This new, award-winning adaptation of Dostoyevsky's literary masterpiece Crime and Punishment is told by three actors playing Raskolnikov (the murderer), Porfiry Petrovitch (the detective), Sonia (the young prostitute) and many other characters in this famous story. 

This "conversation on the nature of evil" is set in the mind of the murderer where he relives and explores, through the urging of Porfiry and Sonia, the thoughts, ideas and feelings that drove him to his horrible crime. The play becomes a psychological landscape which creates a thrilling journey into the mind of a killer and his search for redemption. Raskolnikov speaks directly to the audience at times, putting his case to them, so that the audience becomes another character in the telling. 

This is an intimate psychological and spiritual journey which seeks to unveil hidden dimensions of the human condition. 
REVIEWS:

"In a feat that rivals the construction of the Hoover Dam, Crime and Punishment has been distilled into a taut 90-minute play that will banish any bad memories you might have of trying to struggle through Dostoyevsky's book. Just three actors tell the tale and may have you confessing to some murders yourself by the play's end."

 The New York Times

"Stunningly lean, taut and emotionally searing... a work of theatre that never feels like a condensation of a seminal 500-page novel, but rather has the swift, sharp impact of a blow from an ax."

Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

"Who would have thought that the novel no high school student has ever finished reading would make such engrossing theater?"

 The New York Times

"Raskolnikov's journey may be, in essence, a 90-minute exercise in logic, but here it's a remarkably absorbing one."

 The New York Times

"Only occasionally can the production of a classic make us see the work differently... this adaptation and production remind us how thrilling a classic can be. On opening night you feel the audience holding its breath throughout the performance. Go: it will leave you breathless, too."

AISLESAY Chicago

Characters

  • Casting: 2M, 1F
  • Casting Attributes: Expandable casting
  • Casting Notes: Cast can be expanded for amateur productions only.

Available Material

Name Price
Crime and Punishment Script Order Now

This new, award-winning adaptation of Dostoyevsky's literary masterpiece Crime and Punishment is told by three actors playing Raskolnikov (the murderer), Porfiry Petrovitch (the detective), Sonia (the young prostitute) and many other characters in this famous story. This 'conversation on the nature of evil' is set in the mind of the murderer where he relives and explores, through the urging of Porfiry and Sonia, the thoughts, ideas and feelings that drove him to his horrible crime. The play becomes a psychological landscape which creates a thrilling journey into the mind of a killer and his search for redemption. Raskolnikov speaks directly to the audience at times, putting his case to them, so that the audience becomes another character in the telling. This is an intimate psychological and spiritual journey which seeks to unveil hidden dimensions of the human condition. Unit set. Approximate running time: 90 minutes.

$19.95

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