Crime and PunishmentAt A Noise WithinReviewed by
Hoyt Hilsman
October 28, 2009
The adaptation by Campbell and Columbus is a minimalist version of the book, with doubling in multiple roles and a series of fades and quick cuts between scenes. The story focuses, of course, on the impoverished student Raskolnikov (Michael A. Newcomer), who is pawning off his last few possessions to pay for food. When a local pawnshop owner (Holly Hawkins) is murdered along with another woman, Raskolnikov becomes a suspect and is interrogated by a detective, Porfiry (Robertson Dean), who engages him in a series of colloquies on the nature of crime, guilt, and punishment. Raskolnikov, in his poverty and dementia, had constructed a psychopathic worldview that condoned, even encouraged, the murder of the pawnbroker as justifiable homicide to correct the injustice of poverty. Echoing the later fascist ideologies of the 20th century, Raskolnikov sharply divides the world into good and evil. Since the pawnbroker falls on the side of evil, she can justifiably be killed, by none other than Raskolnikov himself. In the end, the detective and a local prostitute, Sonia (also played by Hawkins), convince Raskolnikov to confess. While the themes of Dostoyevsky's novel are tantalizing and some of the discourses on good and evil in the play are engaging, the overall effect of the piece is decidedly untheatrical. Director Craig Belknap takes an understated approach to the material, and the tone is unduly somber and flat. The performances are mixed, with Dean providing most of the energy on stage. Newcomer is earnest, but without much depth or conviction, and Hawkins seems oddly out of place in the proceedings. The musical interludes designed by Bill Froggatt seem to intrude more than add to the story, and the set design by Michael C. Smith, while serviceable, offers little in the way of imaginative depth. Presented by and at A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Oct. 17–Dec. 17. Repertory schedule. (818) 240-0910, ext. 1. www.anoisewithin.org. |
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