Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky 

adapted by Jack Jacobs
presented by Off By Heart

Tuesday 15 – Saturday 26 September at 7.30pm

“I needed to know that I was not a louse.”

Rocks piled high. A staircase. A man with a theory and an axe.

Raskolnikov is a student living on nothing, in a room barely wider than his arms, in a city that never goes quiet. He has a theory. He believes some people are extraordinary, and the rules do not apply to them. To test his belief, he picks up an axe.

Sonya, a girl with her own reasons for shame, refuses to look away from him. Porfiry, an investigator who never raises his voice, begins to circle. The city presses in. The theory begins to crack. What follows is not just a manhunt but a reckoning.

Dostoevsky’s restless novel is reimagined as a thrilling chamber piece in an intimate study of the theories we use to excuse cruelty, and the quiet work of being found out.

Crime and Punishment is the debut production of Off By Heart, a new London theatre company committed to telling great stories. Adapted and directed by Jack Jacobs — actor, theatre maker and voice artist — the production brings Dostoevsky’s feverish interior world into the intimacy of the Jack S

Flock

by Lin Coghlan

directed by Jim Pope 

presented by PlayingON

29 Sept - 3 Oct

Flock originally toured nationally, including a four-week run at the Soho Theatre. Now it’s coming home to Lewisham.

Robbie is 17. His sister Cel is 20. They’ve grown up in and out of the care system, different placements, different addresses, always finding their way back to each other. Cel wants to go to university. Robbie wants them to finally live together in one place. Neither of those things seems too much to ask.

What follows is Robbie’s journey back through every place he’s lived, every moment they shared, every argument and tender exchange, trying to understand how they got here, and whether any of it was his fault.

Lin Coghlan’s play is a portrait of grief, love and resilience told through the eyes of a young man who sees the world through the behaviour of birds: free, loyal, and pecking the shit out of each other. It is sad, funny, honest and, in the end, full of hope.

Flock is set in Lewisham, rooted in Lewisham, and made with and for the people of Lewisham. There are 461 children in the borough without a family home. This play is not about statistics. It’s about what that actually feels like.

This production is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

ORWELL – The Road to 1984

by Guy Smith with additional material by Mark Stratford 

directed by Guy Smith

presented by Stratford Productions

6 - 10 October

ORWELL: The Road to 1984 tells the fascinating story of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century and the extraordinary personal experiences that inspired his classic tales Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

It is a timely portrait of a writer whose words remain a warning – and a hope.

George Orwell is perhaps the most influential English writer of the twentieth century. His classic tales Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four which warn of the dangers of totalitarianism – erosion of free speech, abuse of power, increasing control of all aspects of our everyday lives – resonate now more than ever.

Orwell’s dystopian concepts such as ‘Big Brother is watching you’, ‘Room 101’ and ‘thoughtcrime’ have become everyday phrases. But where did his vision of the future come from?

In this powerful and moving play, Mark Stratford takes you on a fascinating journey through the extraordinary experiences that shaped the work of this perceptive and compelling writer.

In Orwell’s words, we travel through many of the remarkable episodes in his life including his time at a grim boarding school, being a police officer in colonial Burma, his adventures tramping through England to live among the poor and underprivileged, and his extraordinarily close shave with death in the Spanish Civil War.

“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie I want to expose.” George Orwell

In this age of misinformation, political extremism and digital surveillance, ORWELL: The Road to 1984 is a play for our time.

PRESS for this production:

‘superbly-put-together one-man show… Every scene in the show feels well-earned and vivid. Adapter and director Guy Smith has done an excellent job, creating a coherent and compelling story offering a glimpse into the inner world of a world-famous storyteller… a rare treat where the story and performer seemed made for each other.

This show offers a powerful and affecting story performed with nuance and humour by a consummate storyteller. A Highly Recommended Show.’ Fringe Revview

Stratford’s ‘performance in ORWELL: The Road to 1984 is simply excellent. His storytelling is engaging and the shifts in his physicality impressive. He uses the space adeptly (fine directing by Guy Smith), his comic timing strong… Stratford brings this most important literary figure to life eloquently and entertainingly in this very fine production.’ ★★★★ Rialto Arts