The reviews are in for Crime and Punishment, the debut production of the new London company Off By Heart, running at the Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley until Saturday 26 September 2026. Jack Jacobs has adapted Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel into a 90-minute three-hander, directs it and plays Raskolnikov, with Andrew Callaghan as Porfiry and Marmeladov and Faye Bishop as Sonya. Seven critics have filed. All seven pick out Callaghan’s double turn; they divide over whether 90 minutes leaves the adaptation enough room, and over how much weight Jacobs’s Raskolnikov carries at the centre of it.
The verdict: seven reviews so far — three at three and a half stars, two at three, one at two, and one outlet that publishes no rating at all. Across the six scores the average is 3.1 out of 5. Every notice singles out Andrew Callaghan. What divides them is the 90-minute adaptation: where some find it punchy and resourceful, others say the compression costs the novel its finer shading.
What are critics saying about Crime and Punishment?
Susan Elkin
Reviewer: Susan Elkin
The sound in this show is very striking. We hear voices speaking Russian and some very grating noises meant to suggest street sound mirroring Raskolnikov’s state of mind, There is also recorded song – presumably Bishop again – and low level background music in minor keys and Russian in flavour, No one is credited for this although Ben Bayliss is thanked “for his ear on the sound design”. Whoever put it together did an impressive job.
Of course it’s wordy – it’s a 700 page, mid 19th century Russian novel of ideas – but Jacobs has found ways of making this take on Crime and Punishment quite punchy without compromising on the core arguments.
London Pub Theatres
“Bold and ambitious”
Reviewer: Nilgün Yusuf
Creativity abounds in this resourceful interpretation of Dostoevsky’s masterpiece. The monochromatic set design by Geoff Howard sees paper screens eventually ripped through to show both the corrosive effect of guilt and the revelation of the truth. The pawn broker - Raskolnikov’s worst nightmare - is presented as a bizarre mask-wearing, evil God creature who speaks like a Dalek through an excellent mask by Ria Rylatt-Chandaman.
To set the scene on this small, simple stage, a tinny transistor radio plays Russian folk songs in the background. All in all, this is an accomplished debut piece. Hats off to Off By Heart who have pulled off an ambitious task with boldness and energy that many others would have baulked at.
A Young(ish) Perspective
Circling around Raskolnikov is detective Porfiry, brilliantly played by Andrew Callaghan. In the moments of interaction between Porfiry and Raskolnikov the concerns of the play have a glaring light shone upon their shadowy forms and are thrown into brutal relief.
Callaghan multi-roles as the alcoholic Marmeladov, whose addiction has brought ruin on his family, including his daughter Sonya (Faye Bishop). In another of the everyday tragedies of the play, Marmeladov is both despicable and deeply pitiable in his plight; Callaghan finds both, as well as comedy. Despite what one might think, Dostoevsky can be deeply funny in his writing, with a rich seam of satire running through the otherwise slightly relentless suffering. Meanwhile, Bishop portrays Sonya with grace as she sits ‘like patience on a monument’, waiting and accepting.
Plays To See
Reviewer: Jad Adams
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.’
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Sarah P
Throughout the play, Raskolnikov addresses the audience, “no one knows what they truly believe”, and it hooks us. Jacobs' performance as the poor young man from St Petersburg is engaging and charming and slightly terrifying all at once. We are unsure whether to pity him, hate him, or feel oddly maternal over him. (Which, of course, is the point of the story). Nonetheless, Jacobs humanises him in a way that feels comforting.
Theatre Weekly
“a slightly rushed production that tries to force a 500-page novel into 90 minutes of theatre”
Reviewer: Benedict Pignatelli
It is perhaps unfair to comment on the plot and writing if the play was adapted from one of literature’s greatest masterpieces. Obviously the writing was the best part. Jacobs, however, has at times rewritten the script, adding text that is not in the original. Similarly, the plot diverges from the novel in several key moments, particularly at the end, to the detriment of the production.
The sound effects are generally not compatible with Crime and Punishment. Loud recordings of horses accompanied by amplified bass sound more like a late Black Eyed Peas album than the inner turmoil of a poor Russian murderer.
British Theatre Guide
Reviewer: Sandra Giorgetti
Jacobs's production has an appropriately oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere which is further enhanced by an evocative soundscape, which could have been used more extensively. Wisely, he keeps the staging active to counter the play's inevitably word-heavy nature.
Whilst serving fealty to the seriousness and character of the novel, the adaptation feels a little burdened by metaphor. This isn't, however, an obstacle to recognising the people who, feeling caught in a contemporary net of unalterable injustices, rely on ill-thought-through theories to warrant brutal behaviour.
Read Sandra Giorgetti’s full review at British Theatre Guide
Production photographs by Vincent Rosec.
More first-night verdicts on the Best of Theatre blog: our roundups of The Turn of the Screw at the Arcola Theatre and Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky at Southwark Playhouse Borough.
Crime and Punishment runs at the Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4, until Saturday 26 September 2026. Tickets are £17, £15 concessions.
