Crime et Châtiment

For all audiences, from 12 years old

Performance created on November 4, 2025 at Théâtre de Liège

A masterpiece of world literature, written in 1866 by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment tells the story of young Raskolnikov from Saint Petersburg, penniless and desperate, who murders an old pawnbroker with an axe in an attempt to escape poverty. But his plan goes awry when the pawnbroker’s sister unexpectedly arrives at the scene and becomes a witness. Panicked, Raskolnikov kills her too.

Haunted by the fear of being discovered, he descends into intense moral torment, wavering between nightmare and madness. Around him, his loved ones grow increasingly worried, while his strange behavior arouses the suspicions of Investigating Judge Porfiry, who, like a spider weaving its web, patiently and cleverly awaits the moment when Raskolnikov will collapse under the weight of his guilt.

For their new creation, the company Les Karyatides tackles this monumental novel, a precursor to the noir genre, and achieves the feat of adapting it into object theatre and musical performance without losing the profound depth of this masterpiece, which probes the human soul as few others have done.