Театральная компания ЗМ

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

“Priyut Komedianta” Theatre, St. Petersburg
Presented in the frame of Russian Case 2020
based on Fyodor Dostoevsky

Director: Konstantin Bogomolov
Set designer: Larisa Lomakina
“Crime and Punishment”, among many productions by Konstantin Bogomolov who has a flare for the provocative, can be attributed to the line of works made with director’s principal self-restraint. In this production everything is expressed through the performers: pairs of actors take turns coming into an unchanging grey pavilion to perform dialogue scenes which involve very little action – it’s mainly talking. However, the dialogues, lacking anguish, hysterics and pressure intrinsic to Dostoevsky, demonstrate a surprising clarity of thought, with its complexity well-preserved. Raskolnikov’s role gets a most offbeat interpretation: Dmitry Lysenkov plays him as an unpleasant, irritable and even wicked person, confessing to murder with a crooked smirk, as if coerced. Perhaps only two details remind us that it is the same Bogomolov we know. First is the casting with many older characters that are played by young performers and vice versa, as if telling us that it is not about the age, it is about character. Second is musical accents - lighthearted Soviet tunes, unexpectedly commenting on Dostoevsky’s text and giving it mocking detraction.

Dina Goder



You will not see the screaming, suffering, sobbing Dostoevsky in this performance. Here Dostoevsky is calm and rather rational, than emotional. All emotions are hidden inside. The approach to the "crime" (not the way of presentation) is, indeed, Tarantino-like in the sense that Tarantino does not consider the death as a drama, it is only an episode of life. The moments of physical suffering were withdrawn from the story of Raskolnikov, although both the text and the structure of the novel have been preserved. But at the same time, monologues are deprived of ethical and moral anguish. That is what from Tarantino here.

From Konstantin Bogomolov`s interview



Three and a half hours with two intervals fly by in one breath. The director has found for each character a surprisingly accurate today's social equivalent, which is emphasized by a perfect external form, and the text by Dostoevsky allows you to understand to the last detail the essence of those who have always existed and will exist in Russian reality.

Fontanka.ru



The characters are people the world has deceived, the culture has deceived: they know this, but still continue to use those matrices and the language that human experience offers them. Sometimes this method is ironic.

Theatre Magazine



“Priyut Komedianta” reinterprets the classics. The Moscow director Konstantin Bogomolov, known for his provocative productions, took on one of the most Petersburg authors. “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky is now deprived of suffering and strong emotions. This is a calm story to the sound of movies and rock operas. This Dostoevsky aroused unprecedented interest.

NTV channel



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