Thérèse Raquin

'Therese Raquin' is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Zola's dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters, mere 'human beasts' who kill in order to satisfy their lust, is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. 'Therese Raquin' stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which Zola was the founding father. Even today, this novel has lost none of its power to shock.

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'A story of paralysing passion'

1860s Paris. In a small dusty haberdasher's shop near the Seine in the dank, narrow Passage du Pont Neuf, the young and beautiful Thérèse Raquin is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille.

While her husband is out all day working, Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and - every Thursday evening - watching her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin, play dominoes with an eclectic group of ne'er-do-wells.

Until the Thursday evening that her husband Camille brings an old friend to the party - the alluring Laurent - and she embarks on an illicit affair that leads Thérèse to abandon all her inhibitions and loyalties as their brutal and overwhelming passion overturns both their lives and has results that nobody could have foreseen...

In keeping with the innovative and challenging nature of the original work, this radical new musical adaptation features a company of twelve actor musicians playing the main roles of Thérèse, Laurent, Camille and Madame Raquin, as well as their Thursday night domino playing companions and a watchful and distrustful Chorus.

[This] adaptation is very well-constructed - The movement Sheppard incorporates complements the score and the plot.
This radical adaptation of Zola's dark and shocking masterpiece is brimming with derailed passion, haunting criminality and withering comedy.
Uncompromisingly dark
With stylish book, lyrics and direction by Nona Sheppard.
The sense that it's at once a moral thriller and a kind of animal experiment comes through powerfully in Nona Sheppard's astute non-naturalistic reworking.
Zola would approve.
A talented celebration of the classic novel's sharply provocative spirit..
Shepphard's lyrics are some of the most intelligent lyrics ever to grace a musical theatre stage.