Salem Theater Company - Crime and Punishment

On Thursday, January 22nd, Crime and Punishment, the first show of 2015 at Salem Theater Company opened. Crime and Punishment is a stage adaptation, of the 1866 novel by Fyodor Dorstoyevsky, under the same name. It was adapted for the stage, by authors Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, is a 90 minute three person play directed by Cathrine Bertrand. The ensemble for this production consisted of Alexander Castillo-Nunez, Alexis Jade, and Robert Cope, with Jade and Cope playing more than one role.
As in the Dorstoyevsky novel, the story revolves around the mental breakdown of ex-student/teacher, Raskolnikov, who is disillusioned by the way the current world is, believing that it is filled with injustice towards poverty, believing that he can be the next Napoleon who can cleans the world of such "insects," as he refers to the people. Believing that he is helping out his neighbor, Sonia and her poverty stricken family, Raskolnikov robs and kills and old pawn broker and likewise to her younger sister, who witnesses the murder. He is then questioned by the detective Porfiry about his possible as well as his current mental state and both his political and social views of the world.
The play is told through nonlinear storytelling, with flashbacks of Raskolnikov conversing with Sonia as well as her drunken father, the old pawn broker, and her younger sister Lizaveta. As the play progresses, we see Raskolnikof slowly slipping into paranoid madness. What makes this play unique, is the acting from the performers. Jade plays the roles of Sonia, The Pawn Broker, Lizaveta, and Roskolnikov's mother. Through these multiple characters, she expresses young innocents through Lizaveta, miserable business planning through the pawn broker, and perseverance out of tragedy through Sonia. Cope plays the roles of Detective Porfiry and Sonia's alcoholic father, whom Roskolnikov meets and learns about Sonia's life style choices. But the stand out performance in this ensemble is Nunez as Raskolnikov. He plays the murderous insanity perfectly and allows the character to seem multidimensional. We don't sympathize with him due to his actions, but we are meant to understand what drives a man to commit a crime such as murder. The production, itself, is performed in a minimalistic way, mirroring the poverty stricken environment that the characters live in,  through the direction of Catherine Bertrand. 
If you are a fan of the original Dorstoyevsky novel, or interested in crime dramas, or character studies on how the mind of a killer works, then SalemTheater Company's new production of Crime and Punishment comes highly recommended. The show runs from January 22nd through February 14th.