A student alone in his room for days on end dreams of what it is to be a great man. He knows he is exceptional, but how can he prove it? What dramatic gesture can he pull off to show he is above the herd? ‘A great man can overstep,’ he muses.
In our world of incels, ideological intoxication and domestic terrorism, Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel is as fresh as if it had just popped up on a computer screen.
Raskolnikov, played by Jack Jacobs who adapted the novel and directed the play, is a truly wretched creature, he is kept by his pensioner mother and his sister who dote on him and give him all they have, supposedly so he can continue his law studies.
Raskolnikov has abandoned his studies, however, he is yearning for a meaning in a world which he finds completely valueless. He wants to do something to prove the rules of society do not apply to him and conceives a plan to kill and rob a crabby old pawnbroker, arguing she does not need the money and will be dead soon anyway.
The pawnbroker speaks only in Russian and is depicted in a grotesque mask so she is less than fully human, just as Raskolnikov sees her. In the aftermath of the murder his justifications for the act flutter away as confusion and guilt overtake him.
This is a crime story upended. From the start we know ‘who done it,’ what this narrative pursues is: ‘why done it?’
Into this story come other characters, the drunkard Marmeladov who is engulfed in misery for his useless life of alcoholism, and his daughter, the saintly Sonya, who works as a prostitute to keep her father and siblings. She is the love interest in the story, along with the Russian Orthodox church which she represents. She recognises Raskolnikov’s inner torment, ‘Do you need a cross to bear?’ she asks him.
The sardonic police inspector Porfiry played by Andrew Callaghan with wild eyes and raised eyebrows, seems hardly interested at all in solving the crime, his discursive questioning circles around Raskolnikov’s guilt to lead the student stumbling onto self-realisation. Porfiry does not escape scrutiny himself, however, with his form filling and registration, ‘I take lives with paper and patience,’ he says, ‘and the law shakes my hand for it.’
Russian music, the sounds of horror and a set made up of blackboards and paper add to the eerie atmosphere. In this production the many characters in Dostoevsky’s novel are reduced to a small number, all played by three actors in powerful performances.
Off By Heart, whose debut production this is, aims to ‘strip stories to their core.’  Certainly this 200,000 word novel is reduced to 90 minutes but that does mean retaining all the declamatory speeches while losing the more sensitive.
Playwright: Fyodor Dostoevsky adapted by Jack Jacobs
Cast: Jack Jacobs, Faye Bishop, Andrew Callaghan
Duration: 90 minutes no interval
Until: 26 September 2026
Photo: Vincent Rosec