Barons Court Theatre - February/March 2010
Two of the world's finest classic novels brought rep-style to the intimate stage setting of Barons Court Theatre. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" - Hardy's haunting tale of innocence betrayed, love denied, rape and bloody murder! - and the extraordinary "Crime & Punishment", Dostoyevsky's piercing insight into criminal mania, lust for power, compassion and redemption!

TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES A moving adaptation of Hardy’s renowned tale of Tess Durbeyfield. Subtitled “A Pure Woman” by Hardy who loathed the sexual hypocrisy of the time, Tess is a cry of outrage at God’s indifference and humanity’s devastating need to crush what is beautiful or unusual, to destroy what they do not understand. Countless essay questions have been set as to who is the most to blame for the tragedy that is Tess – Alec D’Urberville who seduces her without consent, Angel Clare who wins her love and trust only to betray and reject her or her parents who naively call upon her to sacrifice herself for them. Not for the faint hearted, but an immensely stimulating drama nevertheless.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT A taut adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic tale of murder, guilt and redemption. "Crime and Punishment" is one of the most gripping and claustrophobic works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a writer with an uncanny ability to transcribe the mental contortions and shifting uncertainties of characters on the edge of madness. (He was himself an epileptic in a time when the condition was little understood, and a chronic gambler.) Raskolnikov, a former student, murders an elderly woman money-lender and her half sister on the premise that certain people are born possessed of an intrinsic right that entitles them to commit all manner of crimes in the name of humanity. Having taken the steps from thought to deed, however, he finds himself unable to bear the horror of what he has done and embarks upon a difficult journey through denial, confession and, ultimately, redemption. A thoroughly transporting night of high drama and, quite simply, a rollicking good story.

The Cast - Tess of the d'Urbervilles Tess Durbeyfield - Joanna O'Connor ... Angel Clare – Robin Holden ... Alec d'Urberville – James Kingdon ... John Durbeyfield/Dairyman Crick/Mr Clare/Old Jonathan – Jonathon Sanger ... Izz Huet/Joan Durbeyfield/Car Darch - Emma Hay ... Retty Priddle/Liza-Lu Durbeyfield/Nancy Darch/Mrs Clare/Mrs Stoke-d'Urberville – Lucy Fenton

The Cast - Crime & Punishment Raskolnikov - James Kingdon ... Alyona Ivanovna/Raskolinkov's Mother/Nastasya/Sonia – Lucy Fenton ... Porfiry/Luzhin – Jonathan Sanger ... Dounia/Katerina Ivanovna – Joanna O’Connor ... Razumikhin/Svidrigaïlov – Robin Holden

"Loved it. A beautiful adaptation of the novel.. The cast were, without exception, first-rate... Joanna O'Connor, who played Tess, was beautiful to watch. Gentle, graceful, but with the strength and determination Tess would have had to have to survive what she did. She was equally matched by Robin Holden, who was as romantic a lover as you might hope for and then utterly vicious in his rejection of her, and suave James Kingdon as Alec d'Urberville who clearly relished his villany... Lucy Fenton, as Retty, raised many a well-deserved laugh and the love scenes between Tess and Angel are really lovely to watch. I'd really recommend it to anyone, although you will need a hanky by the end." Stephanie Timothy for Remote Goat

"I shouldn't mind learning why the sun do shine on the just and the unjust alike." - Tess There’s much to draw Tess and Crime & Punishment together; themes such as self-sacrifice, suffering to a purpose, the sins of the father, the destruction of youthful ideals and the acceptance of life and society as it is, rather than as we might wish it.

"All is in a man's hands, within his own grasp and he lets it slip from cowardice. What is it men are most afraid of? Taking a new step, uttering a new word?" - Raskolnikov Both pieces tend to be remembered for one pivotal and destructive moment which takes place in the early stages of the novel, but to imagine that Tess is simply about a rape and Crime & Punishment simply about a murder is to detract from the outstanding psychological analysis of humanity, the joyous wealth of characters, of intrigue and, yes, even of humour and romance, that each great writer provides.

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"What if eternity is just one little room, like a bath house in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner? I sometimes fancy it like that." Robin Holden as Svidrigaïlov and Joanna O'Connor as Katerina Ivanovna

"I told him I would go with him and live with him, though I knew what that would mean. I said I didn’t mind it, that no woman do mind when it comes to agony-point and there’s no other way. I told him I’d loved him always, since the first time I saw him and that I’d never stop." Emma Hay as Izz Huet

"What are you to do? Stand up! Go at once, this very minute, stand at the cross-roads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud, 'I am a murderer!' Then God will send you life again. Will you go, will you go?" Lucy Fenton as Sonia and James Kingdon as Raskolnikov

"She is a dear, dear Tess. Do I realize solemnly enough how utterly and irretrievably this little womanly thing is the creature of my good or bad faith and fortune? And shall I ever neglect her, or hurt her, or ever forget to consider her? God forbid such a crime!" Robin Holden as Angel Clare

"It's not your pistol, it belonged to Marfa Petrovna, whom you killed, wretch! Nothing in her house belonged to you! I took it when I began to suspect what you were capable of. If you dare to advance one step, I swear I'll kill you. You poisoned your wife, I know! Bastard!" Joanna O'Connor as Dounia

"Loving-kindness and purity? O no! I'm a different sort of fellow from that! If there's nobody to say, 'Do this, and it will be a good thing for you after you are dead; do that, and it will be a bad thing for you,' I can't warm up. Hang it, I am not going to feel responsible for my deeds and passions if there's nobody to be responsible to; and if I were you, my dear, I wouldn't either!" James Kingdon as Alec d'Urberville and Joanna O'Connor as Tess

"No, Rodion Romanovitch, this is a fantastic, gloomy business, a modern case when the heart of man is troubled, when the phrase is quoted that blood 'renews,' when comfort is preached as the aim of life. Here we have bookish dreams and a heart unhinged by theories." Jonathan Sanger as Porfiry