“Both a classic come to life and an urgent new work which develops its own style and language rather than slavishly imitating the text and it’s all the better for it.” —Independent
“Powerful... To find a theatrical structure, adaptor Chris Hannan roams freely through the novel. He turns interior monologue into direct address, thins out subplots and reconfigures the sequence of events to fashion a fluid route through the story.” —Guardian
“Magnificent... a fluent, beautiful, profoundly theatrical account of one of the great stories of world literature.” —Scotsman
An exciting, fresh and accessible adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s masterful novel.
Starving, destitute student Raskolnikov is surrounded by the harsh injustices of the world: the grime of poverty and prostitution, unscrupulous pawnbrokers chasing debts, and a sister about to marry someone she doesn’t love to keep her family alive. His guilt is unbearable. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer any chance of redemption.
As Raskolnikov enters a dangerous cat and mouse game with the examining magistrate, a psychological thriller unfolds that probes how far humanity might go when driven by disillusionment and whether any crime can be justified by a higher purpose.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was an 18th-century Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher. His best-known works include Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.?
Chris Hannan is a Scottish playwright and novelist. His plays include The Evil Doers (Bush Theatre), Shining Souls (Traverse Theatre) and The God of Soho (Shakespeare’s Globe).