Thérèse Raquin - Stagetext (London) January 10, 2007

Thérèse Raquin

Genre: Drama
Playwright: Emile Zola, adapted by Nicholas Wright

Mysterious disappearances, domestic cases, noiseless, bloodless snuffings-out… the law can look as deep as it likes, but when the crime itself goes unsuspected… oh yes, there’s many a murderer basking in the sun.

Stifled by an oppressive mother-in-law and a sickly husband, Thérèse Raquin falls passionately for another man. Their feverish affair drives the lovers to an act of terrible desperation, which catapults them headlong into a world more claustrophobic than the one they sought to destroy.

This gripping thriller, adapted by Zola himself from his notorious novel, is seen here in a version by Nicholas Wright whose recent work at the National includes Vincent in Brixton, and his adaptations of Three Sisters and His Dark Materials.

I’m frightened. There’s something happening that I can’t control.