Crime & Punishment (& Bondage)

Sometimes my brain gets it slightly wrong.

Today I went to see Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment at the Lyceum. I read the novel about 10 years ago and remembered enjoying it. I'd heard good reviews and managed to get a half price student ticket for the matinee, so along I went.

I was a little confused at the beginning. I remembered the main crime with the pawnbroker and a few other details, but I couldn't figure out where the waitress was. The main character is in love with a waitress.

Except that he isn't. Not in Crime & Punishment anyway.

Here is what happened - many years ago when I read it, I also read Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham in quick succession. In this novel, of course, the protagonist falls in love with a waitress. My addled brain then somehow merged the two stories. In my mind, they have been merged for years now!

I thought the production today was very good, but the first half seemed to really drag. Admittedly, this may have been because I was looking for a character that would never appear. At the interval, assuming this was one of the Lyceum's alternative tellings, I googled the plot and then quickly realised my mistake. The second half of the play was really very good indeed and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I can't help but think that my version was better!

What an idiot!