Thérèse Raquin

1860s Paris. In a small dusty haberdasher's shop near the Seine in the dank, narrow Passage du Pont Neuf, the young and beautiful Th r se Raquin is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. While her husband is out all day working, Th r se 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 Th r se 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 Th r se, 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 Arts Desk "This radical adaptation of Zola's dark and shocking masterpiece is brimming with derailed passion, haunting criminality and withering comedy." - Everything Theatre "Uncompromisingly dark" - The Stage "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." - Independent "Zola would approve" - Telegraph "Some of the most intelligent lyrics ever to grace a musical theatre stage." - Public Reviews