Crime and Punishment
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Friedline, Hunter, Witten
Photo by Ed Krieger
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By Joseph N. Feinstein
If you've ever read Dostoyevsky's intense, bewitching book, Crime and Punishment, you will remember the journey into Raskolnikov's mind. His conscience, thoughts, and guilts return, again and again, as the master storyteller digs a tunnel between the reader and the protagonist, attempting to help us understand the reasons to justify a murder.
A goodly amount of that quest is evident in the Crossley Theatre's new production of Crime and Punishment. Written by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, it stars Ben Hunter as Raskolnikov, Suzanne Friedline as the prostitute, Sonia; and Paul Witten as Porfiry, the detective. Friedline and Porfiry are called upon to play multiple roles, as well. This leads to mad dashes off stage for each of them, only to return seconds later, attired differently, to take on their new personae. The audience's adjustment to these various characters represents little challenge. It's most amusing to see the stern detective morph into an old female pawnbroker in the blink of an eye.
The play opens in utter blackness with Raskolnikov on bended knee, reciting, "In my dreams, I am six years old...". He is watching a crowd of men beating a horse to death. The mood of things bleak and despairing remains with us through the ninety minutes of dialogue. But we are equally privy to some rare and interesting philosophical ideas, some very effective dramatic portrayals, some excellent direction by Ken Sawyer, intriguing lighting by Jeremy Pivnick, and appropriate, threadbare costume design by Paula Higgins.
During one scene, Raskolnikov talks to the detective arguing that "All great men in any society can and must commit criminal activities in order to defend their position!" We immediately flash on Hitler and Napoleon. No matter what characters the three actors assume, they enlist your undivided attention, for Ken Sawyer keeps the action moving nimbly in any one of the four locales the rather small set represents. He uses this ninety-minute treatment of this sweeping novel as an image of people trying to find faith and make sense of the world they live in.
My only caveat might be to light the theater better before the start of the play, for the rise of the stage seemed to trip many of the patrons during their ingress or egress of the theater. Aside from that concern, the play engenders something to chew on as we navigate our way home...God versus the notion of free will.
Crime and Punishment Presented by Actors Co-op at the Crossley Theatre on the Grounds of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood 1760 N. Gower Street Hollywood 323-462-8460
Friday and Saturday @ 8:00 p.m.; Sunday @ 2:30 p.m.; Tickets $30 Until April 13.
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