Crime and Punishment: (Stage Version): NHB Modern Plays

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.

"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

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).