Exuberant and deafening, with a clear fashion influence on the naturalistic aesthetic prevalent in Greek theatre, this is a performance. “Crime and Punishment: Athens”director Vassilis Bispikis, directed by Kenny McLellan and filmed on stage by Philippos Zamidis. A work is defined as “transcription” and “original dramaturgy”, two concepts that are dialectically unrelated to each other and rather mutually exclusive.

This is an ambitious project, moving almost in the same atmospheric-etrographic coordinates as the direction “On Mice and People” (2019), with the difference that Bisbitsky staged this beautiful adaptation of Steinbeck’s work in an old mechanical workshop in the Rentis district, next to hot dots of immigrants, in a space that is in perfect harmony with the stage trajectory of the wear of dramatic faces.

Photorealism, as a way of isolating a vicious and painful element that violates social cohesion, gradually establishes a recognizable direction in Greek theater, reworking the following: lumpen heroes, social reprisals, parasites shamelessly swearing and annoyingly screaming into the ears of the audience, faces that they are looking for their moral equality in a system of inequality, impoverishment and incredible injustice.

Vassilis Bispikis and Yiannis Melitopoulos create a folk noir that “transfers” Crime and Punishment from 1866 St. Petersburg to the 2023 neighborhood of Omonia, whose lively cinematography offers shots from the side of the city, strongly reminiscent of third world countries. district.

His job Dostoevsky it’s complex and moves along two axes: one concerns the guilt of a young law student who commits the murder of an old pawnbroker, and oscillates between a sense of right and wrong. He feels guilty about the act of killing, but considers the very necessity of this act a mitigating circumstance. Another axis is the repentance of the alcoholic father Marmeladov, who forced his wife and daughter into prostitution and, shortly before his death, realizes the need to ask God for forgiveness for the terrible crime he committed. The Greek adaptation put the weight on the first axis and focused on the wandering of the student Michalis in the inner whirlpool of repentance and on his outer wandering through the streets of the city.

theater of shock

The drama develops around certain critical points of the novel’s theme, but Dostoevsky’s characters suffocate in their stage surrogates, in an overly warm, dramatic and comic play, touching ghosts of Dostoevsky’s atmosphere.

The director sets as his goal the realization of the “shock theater”. He believes that through violence and shock he can “scratch” “things” in the soul and heart of the viewer. He does not believe in the theater of the “sofa” or “thought.” If “shock”, cruelty, scenes of sexual violence, bullying of women, obscene cries and repeated profanity become an end in itself in the dramaturgical and directorial plan, then Dostoevsky’s mask is superfluous. Screenwriters can write a new play set in Omonia’s decadent hotels, Lumben’s heroes, presakias, prostitutes, strippers, and transgender people, without resorting to Dostoyevsky’s philosophical view of the criminal triangle of guilt and remorse. Eliminating the religious element from the point of view of crime is also a mistake, since there is no crime in Dostoevsky without a Christian-moral retribution for every sin.

When violence, scenes of sexual violence and profanity become an end in itself, the Russian writer becomes redundant.

Rap, kennel and opera

Many scenes of the play are an incredible dramatic mix. For example, I mention Sonya’s Chekhov monologue in the background of porn scenes, the scene of Marmeladov’s funeral, where his wife Katerina wears his underwear on her head, and she herself, as a cleaning lady, dances with a mop partner and Carmen as background music, a scene that strongly refers to a television commercial for a well-known detergent. And all this confusion takes place under a musical mixture of rap, dog walking, opera and the sounds of the Divine Liturgy.

However, I single out two scenes of exceptional theatricality: the operatic-aesthetic murder of an old usurer and Sonya’s touching dance “Kalinka” with the deceased father Marmeladov.

The interpretations of excellent actors such as Theodoris Skiftulis, Anna Mashas, ​​Cesaris Gruzinis, Bettis are especially in harmony with the atmosphere of popular noir and committing “a small crime for the sake of a hundred good deeds”. Wakalidou, Erika Bigou, Jovis Fragatos, Niki Seretis and Vassilis Bispikis.

The coexistence of disparate stage materials really causes “shock”, but also disgust in the theatrical audience, which not only reacts emotionally, but also activates its intellectual abilities, especially if it is well acquainted with Dostoevsky’s work. What is certain is that this audience is not easily disorientated by the sophisticated tendencies of an already obsolete postmodernism.

Ms. Rhea Grigoriou is a Doctor of History and Dramaturgy at AUTH and a Professor at the Department of Greek Culture at EAP.