 |
|
"Crime and Punishment" |
|
|
_____________________________________________________________________________ "Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss! - Albert Einstein “Crime and Punishment” Preproduction Notes. Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on October 30, 1821, a second son of a physician, Mikhail and an intelligent, engaging mother, Marya. Fyodor and his older brother of one year, Mikhail, were both talented writers and remained close throughout their lives. Five younger siblings populated Dostoevsky's life, three sisters, and two brothers. His parents would read to their children from Nikolay Karamzin's History of the Russian State. Other early literary influences were the gothic novels of Ann Radcliffe, the idealistic writings of Schiller, as well as works by Sir Walter Scott, the great Russian writers Aleksandr Pushkin, and Nikolay Gogol. In 1837, Dostoevsky experienced the painful death of his beloved mother. Dostoevsky and his older brother were sent to study at a boarding school in St. Petersburg. A year later, Dostoevsky entered the Academy of Military Engineers. St. Petersburg would have a great impact on Dostoevsky's artistic and spiritual development. As a city of both European and Slavic sensibilities, St. Petersburg opened up the literary side of his soul. In 1844, Dostoevsky ended his military career to focus full time on writing. His first major work, Poor Folk, was hailed by the influential literary critic, V. Belinsky, as a work of genius. But when it was published in 1846, it received mixed reviews. Known to be hypersensitive, Dostoevsky spent the next years of his life defining and redefining his artistic talents. In 1849, due to his political radicalism, Dostoevsky was arrested, imprisoned in Siberia, and ordered to face the firing squad. At the last minute, however, Nicholas I, the Tsar, overturned the death sentence. In 1857, Dostoevsky married the widow Marya Dmitrievna. Seven years later, Dostoevsky experienced the deaths of his wife and older brother. In the following years, Dostoevsky went through a period of poverty, excessive gambling, and failed loves. In 1866, Crime and Punishment and The Gambler were published, solidifying Dostoevsky's status as one of Russia's preeminent writers. A year later, he married nineteen- year- Dostoevsky became increasingly disillusioned with the Russian radical intelligentsia, especially the Nihilists and their contempt of traditional values. In 1874, Dostoevsky began work on his final novel. The Brothers Karamazov, his literary masterpiece of parricide that reflected and prophesized the death of the Tsar and in turn, traditional Russian society. It was Dostoevsky's last effort to curb the tide of Russian radicalism with a message of Christian brotherhood and reconciliation. …Dostoevsky died in 1881.Thousands marched behind his funeral procession, a measure of his St. Petersburg Petersburg is the city in which Feodor Dostoevsky spent most of his life and in which he wrote most of his writings. During 28 years he rented more than 20 apartments. A lot of houses in St. Petersburg are linked with Dostoevsky in a peculiar way: he “lodged” his characters in them. The writer's own life was thus intermingled with the lives of the heroes in his novels. The scene of each Dostoevsky's novel is usually laid in the vicinity of the apartment the writer was renting at the time. Having finished a novel Dostoevsky could no longer stay in the area “inhabited” by the 'worked-out' characters. Dostoevsky's researchers believe that it was the reason why the writer could not stay in one place for a long time, but kept moving house. Old Petersburg's topography is most completely and precisely represented in Dostoevsky's novels Poor Folk, The Diary of a Dreamer - White Nights, The Insulted and Injured, Crime and Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov "Raskolnikov lived his true life when he was lying on the sofa in his room, deliberating not at all about the old woman, nor even as to whether it is or is not permissible at the will of one man to wipe from the face of _________________________________________________________________________ Press Release: “CRIME AND PUNISHMENT” by F. Dostoevsky “ WHITE SQUARE” festival is proposing to stage a world premiere of a new adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Directed by award winning European Director Yuriy Kordonskiy, Dostoevsky's monumental work is a stunning production by an integrated ensemble, full of theatrical energy. It tells the classic story about a poor, gifted student whose mind becomes a battlefield for the struggle between good and evil. Director incorporates Dostoyevsky’s psychological drama with conceptual staging to create a truly unique adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s novel. The ground braking work is based on the ancient Greek model of theater in the round using more modern forms of theatrical experimentation. The audience seated in the center of the action and in full view of their fellow audience members. The actors are under constant examination, as the set does not allow for any place to hide or a moment to relax. This concept has been developed over nine months of workshops, rehearsals and script analysis. The adaptation narrows the scope of this epic psychological novel, to its most singular story, the transformation of Raskolnikov, an idealistic student with a fiery intellect, from a thinker into a doer, and the complications, moral, spiritual and legal, that arise from his decision to commit murder. As the novel is a decidedly psychological story, Kordonskiy daringly risks staging the schizophrenia and paranoia of Raskolnikov directly and physically by writing and casting three Raskolnikovs to be played by three actors who are on-stage at all times. The three actors present different sides of Raskonkikov’s psyche, which are in constant dialogue with each other.
|
|