Everything about “The Brothers Karamazov” is lusciously supersized. The thickly serpentine story is bursting at its gorgeous, intricately woven seams. Voracious debauchery and simple piety, soul-shredding passion and pure holiness, suicide, madness, murder, money, mystery and this above all else: A thrilling depiction of the eternal battle. One one side, stone-cold, immaculately constructed logic. On the other, faith with our reason, belief in an unseen, unprovable, all-powerful and loving God.
The scarred participants in this epic fight – some 30 or more characters - stab the heart with their vividness. And amid all the bruising damage, Fyodor Dostoevsky creates a quiet, insistently recurring prose aria that blooms like rubies from a rock, a reminder that there is goodness in a world of unfathomable, capricious cruelty.
Director and adaptor Heidi Stillman doesn’t capture the entirety of Dostoevsky’s massive novel; there are missing characters and subplots. But she and her 15-person ensemble – a cast defined by both extraordinary individual performances and a unified, unwavering sense of overall purpose – capture Dostoevsky’s essence.
The titular brothers are the sons of Fyodor Karamozov, a fellow whose grotesque sexual gluttony and rapine pursuit of pleasure are illustrated in a riotous, dialogue-free prologue that combines the irresistible lasciviousness of a brothel with blood-red fires of hell (a mighty tip of the hat to scenic designer Dan Ostling, sound designer Ray Nardelli and lighting designer Chris Binder who work similarly evocative magic throughout the entire panoramic sweep of “Brothers.”)
As Fyodor, Craig Spidle turns in a milestone performance as a hateful, petty buffoon whose corruption is so complete he can scarcely be called a true father to his sons. It’s within that trio (or very probably, quartet) of offspring that Dostoevsky sets in motion a titanic clash of belief systems. So fierce is the fray that early on, it’s impossible not to realize that the outcome of this fearsome collision can result in only two outcomes: Radical conversion, or annihilation.
The story is fraught with hugely dramatic moments –ardent professions of faith, vows of eternal love, courtroom confessions and accusations, and monstrous betrayals. It’s to the cast’s immense credit that there’s not a false moment within this relentless, potentially actorly and scenery-shredding emoting. The text, even at its most fraught, rings as clear and true as the church bell that tolls toward the piece’s close.
The brothers are perfectly cast. Dmitri (Joe Sikora, radiating impatient, angry heat as a man ruled by passion and temper), Ivan (Philip R. Smith, whose descent from impeccable logician into hallucinating madman is absolutely riveting) and Alyosha (Doug Hara, the soul of the story and a white light of simple, honest goodness), form the bedrock of the production. But these three are far from the only captivating presences on stage. Steve Key is devastating as a retired, impoverished captain desperate to save his consumptive son. And as the brothers’ grim, embittered servant, Lawrence Grimm is a malevolent (and surprisingly tuneful) well of wrathful secrets.
Both redemption and everlasting shame are within reach of everyone in “Brothers Karamazov.” Finding out which will dominate is a rich, rewarding journey.
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Top: Joe Sikora as Dmitri Karamozov.
Bottom: Maury Cooper (from left) as church elder Zosima, Craig Spidle as Fyodor Karamazov, and Doug Hara as Alyosha.
“The Brothers Karamozov” runs through Dec. 7 at the Lookingglass Theatre, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Tickets are $30 to $60. For more information, call 312-337-0665 or go to http://lookingglasstheatre.org
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