Displaying items by tag: Crime and Punishment

Real Chicagoans don’t gatekeep hidden gems. Whether it’s hidden bars behind laundromats, the best Billy Goat location (under Mag Mile), the best desserts or street tacos, the best place to catch a local game (insert season + sport), or a must-see show or concert, real Chicagoans share the hidden gems and surprise experiences. They share because it's thoughtful, considerate, and they want others to experience the same joy and elation they themselves experienced. Most importantly, they want to talk about the shared experience after, preferably at a hidden beach adjacent gem. Today’s hidden gem is TUTA, a theatre company staging a heavy-themed production of Crime and Punishment.

The story of Crime and Punishment follows the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished former law student in Saint Petersburg who plans to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker. The play is a stage adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 novel of the same name, co-written by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus. The authors of the adaptation condensed a heavily philosophical and psychological novel into a 90-minute, three-person play where the actors portray multiple characters without losing any of the depth or themes conveyed in the novel. Themes like isolation, morally gray ambiguity, faith, and fairness all still resonate today over 100 years later.

The TUTA Theatre (The Utopian Theatre Asylum) really proves that good things really do come in small packages. The small theatre found through an alleyway and accessed through a garage provided an unintentional eerie setting, winding your way to a small enclosure similar to the run-down windowless room the protagonist lives in. The minimalist-yet-evocative stage design also lent itself to the poignantly punishable psychology of Dostoevsky's play. By having Raskolnikov kneeling in dirt in supplication, having characters move behind sheer yet blurry plastic tarps, making you question if they were really there or if the character was descending into the madness of his own logic. In a way, the stage was the fourth cast member, moodily setting the tone with lights and effects that aided the claustrophobic and alienation the protagonist was showing on stage. And big talent filled the room with the incredible talent of TUTA company members Felix as Sonia, Huy Nguyen as Inspector Porfiry, and Clifton Frei as Raskolnikov.

TUTA is a fascinating theatre company with a pay-what-you-choose ticket structure. As a non-profit theatre, TUTA relies on ticket sales as well as grants, donations, and in-kind gifts of labor and talent to create art. For Crime & Punishment, for example, a price of $100 per ticket is what it would take to cover the costs of the production. By choosing a higher ticket price, you are creating opportunities for others to attend at lower prices who may not be able to enjoy this performance otherwise. If you want a guaranteed seat in the small theatre, reservations are available online, and you can choose one of four suggested prices ($20, $45, $60, and $100). The higher price you pay or donate, the more affordable future tickets can become throughout the production’s run time.

Whether a production is staged in a garage that borders the Brown Line or the finest auditoriums the city has to offer, Chicago proves time and time again that it houses a thousand treasures. And if you don’t know how to find them, don’t worry, there’s always a friendly Chicagoan ready to tell you all about it. Crime and Punishment is now playing at the TUTA Theatre (4670 N. Manor, Chicago) through August 23rd. To purchase reservations and guarantee a seat to the performance of your choice, visit www.tutatheatre.org. It'd be a Crime if you didn't get the chance to see this one.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

Literary adaptation for the stage can be tricky. Even trickier is bringing the complex work of Dostoyevsky from the page to the stage. Shattered Globe opens its season with Chris Hannan’s 2013 version of ‘Crime and Punishment’. Under the direction of Louis Contey, this unique production is fresh and exciting.

As anyone who has read the lengthy novel by Fyoder Dostoyevsky can attest, this is not an easy work to muddle through. While not the most accessible novel, those who take on the challenge will surely be rewarded by richly drawn, and somewhat disturbing scenes that linger in the memory. Hannan’s script gets right to the point. Instead of long passages of internal monologue, his Raskolnikov (Drew Schad) has fever dream conversations with the people in his life. This device ensures a much more engaging presentation, though Schad is entirely capable of carrying the monologs on his own.

Between Hannan’s script and Contey’s vision, there’s a very artful quality to this production. Unlike the novel, the plot of this play is easy to follow. The ethical debates Raskolnikov has in his head are shortened and the scene work is very strong. The murdered pawnbroker is played by Daria Harper. In her scenes with Schad, she’s nearly diabolically evil. She represents the greedy reality of the world in which Raskolnikov lives. Conversely, Harper is perfectly double cast as doting mother Pulkheria Alexandrovna. Christina Gorman plays his sister Dunya with the same grace and elegance she consistently delivers in Shattered Globe productions. Rebecca Jordan brings to life one of the novel’s most unpleasant characters, the wife of a drunkard who’s killed by an unconcerned buggy driver. Watching her unravel throughout the play is unsettling and heartbreaking.

With a peak interest in true crime shows and podcasts, ‘Crime and Punishment’ is very timely. It asks its audience whether religious morality or utility should be the guiding compass in life. Hannan, like Dostoyevsky, seems to believe that an action should be judged by its usefulness rather than its means. What we have here is a play that works to convince its audience that we should be sympathetic to a cold-blooded murderer. And it works. By the end of the play you’re on the murderer’s side. Perhaps the next time you turn on 48 Hours, put yourself in the killer’s shoes rather than the victims. Would you see it differently? Does anyone have a right to murder?

Shattered Globe dispenses with all the clichés of literary adaption and serves up an emotionally powerful interpretation of ‘Crime & Punishment’. Great performances and non-traditional storytelling make this a definitive adaption. Those who were not fans of the novel in school may find that there’s more to this story for our times than we’d like to admit.

Through October 20 at Shattered Globe Theatre. Theatre Wit, 1229 W Belmont Ave, 773-975-8150