Tuta Theatre’s Crime and Punishment seeks resurrection from the dirt.

TUTA Theatre, ever fearless and resourceful, went with a particularly topical play this summer: an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus. This adaptation premiered at Writers Theater in 2003 and has enjoyed over 100 productions across the country and internationally from Europe to Australia and Indonesia.

You may be asking yourself why a 160+ year old story of impoverished student Raskolnikov and his twisted, grandiose theories of life and morality could still be so compelling to so many audiences around the world. The answer is, as with all the classics, the questions Raskolnikov is asking and trying to answer, are still being asked and answered today. Even more chilling, Imperialist Russia does not seem so different from 2026 America – rising prices, a poor job market and unsustainable rents sound familiar?

Raskolnikov is an intelligent, sensitive, down on his luck student. He came to the capital riding on the hopes and dreams of his family to make something of himself, but soon found law school unaffordable, and has since been sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt, paralyzed and horrified at the thought of admitting his failures. He’s also the sort of kid who is often the smartest in the room, and, after one too many days alone with his own thoughts, has developed a theory that humans can be categorized into two types: the ordinary and the extraordinary. If someone is extraordinary, then the usual things like law and order, or morality, don’t apply to them. It’s no surprise really, that he finds himself to be in that second group. After talking himself up, and skipping one too many meals, Raskolnikov decides to put his theory to the test, you know, to help mankind by removing an “obstacle” (in the form of a nasty old lady). The reality of his actions quickly leaves him horrified, and he is ushered along his desperate descent into misery by Inspector Porfiry, who decides to play a little with him, to see if he can get a confession.

The cast is made up of three actors: Associated Company Members Clifton Frei as Raskolnikov and Felix as Sonia, and Company Member Huy Nguyen as Porfiry. Frei spends the majority of the play front and center, unravelling in the literal muck as the minutes tick by. Nguyen and Felix weave in and out of his misery, sometimes playing other, minor characters. All of the actors are admirably focused and present, given the tiny theater and minimalist staging. Frei is appropriately haunted, leaning into Raskolnikov’s desperation and misery with all he has. Nguyen, as a deceptively friendly Porfiry gives the impression of a spider encircling its prey, and as Sonia’s drunken father, a broken hearted, beaten man. Felix plays all the female characters, each markedly different. Her turn as Sonia strikes a cool note every time she comes onstage, with an otherworldly, soft voice that changes the atmosphere the minute she opens her mouth.

TUTA Co-Artistic Director, and Director of this production, Jacqueline Stone, made the wise choice to strip the atmosphere as efficiently and powerfully as the adaptors did the novel. The staging itself, is in fact, one of the most powerful aspects of this production. The production team of Set Designers Tatiana Kahvegian and Keith Parham (who also doubles on light design) and Sound Designer Stefanie Senior have created a set that seems to be an outward expression of a devolving mind. The stage is a raised bed of dirt, the walls around it draped in plastic sheeting with the occasional violent looking slit, that fades off into a hallway. Frei spends the brisk, 90 minutes barefoot, groveling in the dirt and growing increasingly filthy, while Nguyen and Felix walk gently across it, supporting, supplicating or goading Raskolnikov as their characters demand. The sound does a lot of the heavy lifting too, taking the audience in and out of rooms and conversations, while the stage never changes – and Raskolnikov never escapes it, one cannot escape one’s own mind, after all.

Most unsettling of all was the creeping sensation, as the story unfolds, that nearly everything the audience witnesses could happen, even is happening, today. Unfortunately for most of us, the types who are currently acting on their ideas of superiority have significantly more resources and power than poor Raskolnikov. Ultimately though, the story of Crime and Punishment is one of the inevitability of morality. No matter how hard we may try to talk ourselves out of our basic humanity, this production seems to say, it never leaves us. It can be a thorn in our sides, causing pain till it is recognized, or in the case of Sonia, a solid foundation that keeps us grounded in the nuanced reality of existence, and in the belief that we are all capable of change, remorse and even resurrection.

Recommended

Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT is at Tuta Theatre, 4670 N Manor Ave in Chicago. May 11 – June 28, 2026 Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3:00 pm

Pay-what-you-choose reservations available for $20, $45, $60, $100, available at

https://www.tutatheatre.org/crime-punishment-reservations Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.