There was a time when plays took place solely on the stage but those days look to be long gone.

This original interpretation, by Brighton theatre group dreamthinkspeak, of Dostoyevsky's classic novel Crime And Punishment unravels itself in the bowels of the Theatre Royal and the audience are free to wander from room to room, absorbing scenes, film images and dialogue in the order they choose.

The feverish, panicky atmosphere of the novel is evoked in the mazy underground corridors of the old theatre, where the various episodes of the play merge, transform and dissolve, creating the effect of a constantly shifting hallucinatory dream.

Chronicling the tale of the murderous student Raskolnikov's descent into madness and his search for salvation, the play is a nightmarish exploration of one man's mental turmoil.

The labyrinthine coves and corridors of the Theatre Royal's deepest recesses are a perfect setting for such an acute psychological drama. So-called "promenade theatre" in which the audiences are encouraged to walk through a play has rarely been done so innovatively.

dreamthinkspeak was also responsible for Don't Look Back, a sell-out success at the 2003 Brighton Festival.

The group was set up by experienced director, performer, tracher and video artist Tristan Sharps in 1999, as a reaction to the highly literary nature of much of the city's theatre.

Committed to staging ambitious but accessible drama, they have established a reputation for staging plays in environments which allow audiences to mingle with performers.

As well as Underground and Don't Look Back, Sharps and his team earned critical acclaim for Who Goes There?, a fragmented version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, at 2001's Brighton Festival.

Sharps has a pedigree for conceptual art, having previously been a founder member of both Sharp Edge Theatre Company and La Compagnie de Parti-Pris, and he has performed in the West End and Broadway.

He trained at Jacques Lecoq Theatre School in Paris, one of Europe's prestigious stage schools.

Start times vary. SOLD OUT.