Our class adaptation of Crime and Punishment was to be set during the 1800s in Russia - a time and setting which the writers of the play wanted to come through to the audience. Yet, relying solely on the script was not enough to give the desired effect. In professional theatre, sound is usually a good signifier for not the surrounding, but when it comes to a specific location background music will not do it - accents are necessary. Thankfully, as a class we silently agreed to not have a group of Swedish teenagers attempting a Russian accent in English, and thus, it was up to the props and costumes teams to make the ambience feel authentic. As part of costumes, I took this upon me.
Together with Louise, the process began by researching how …show more content…
I had a negative attitude toward choosing Crime and Punishment from the very beginning - not because I had anything against the novel itself but because it felt as a pretentious play. It is an interesting book, but it lacks the dramaturgic plot I believe is required for theatre. It focuses on following Raskolnikov’s mind as he slowly turns more and more delirious. It is a piece of writing I believe is made for reading, not for the stage. The book had to be dumbed down for a school play and that was not just like removing the flesh and remaining with the skeleton, it was like removing many many bones from it. The play was not bad, that is not what I claim at all, but if I were to base my grounds on only the part I read compared to what I saw, it was barely the same. The book relies on the reader properly seeing how Raskolnikov goes mad along with many side stories, but I did not feel like any of that came through in the play - without reading the book, it barely made sense that Raskolnikov killed the pawn lady and after that, everything was rushed due to the time limit. There were good scenes in the play, such as the one with Donia and Luzhin, but as a whole - the novel did not come through. The romance between Sonia and Raskolnikov barely came through and to me, it did not make any sense as to why he would confide his deed to her after two brief
Together with Louise, the process began by researching how …show more content…
I had a negative attitude toward choosing Crime and Punishment from the very beginning - not because I had anything against the novel itself but because it felt as a pretentious play. It is an interesting book, but it lacks the dramaturgic plot I believe is required for theatre. It focuses on following Raskolnikov’s mind as he slowly turns more and more delirious. It is a piece of writing I believe is made for reading, not for the stage. The book had to be dumbed down for a school play and that was not just like removing the flesh and remaining with the skeleton, it was like removing many many bones from it. The play was not bad, that is not what I claim at all, but if I were to base my grounds on only the part I read compared to what I saw, it was barely the same. The book relies on the reader properly seeing how Raskolnikov goes mad along with many side stories, but I did not feel like any of that came through in the play - without reading the book, it barely made sense that Raskolnikov killed the pawn lady and after that, everything was rushed due to the time limit. There were good scenes in the play, such as the one with Donia and Luzhin, but as a whole - the novel did not come through. The romance between Sonia and Raskolnikov barely came through and to me, it did not make any sense as to why he would confide his deed to her after two brief