Thérèse Raquin (NHB Modern Plays) - Softcover

Nicholas Wright's outstandingly well-written and acute new version... unforgettable --Observer

A potent, dark group portrait of selfishness and obsession. --Independent

An erotic, supercharged but totally naturalistic tale of a relationship based on lust and lost in murder... the tensions of a moral thriller are at first zipped up in sombre, 19th century restraint; but they break loose in a strange, hallucinatory sequence of anguished bed-time tableaux where guilt, anger and frustration have replaced sex and sensuality. --WhatsOnStage.com

Zola's first important novel (1867) is a hauntingly powerful psychological study, described at the time as 'a steamy story of sexual passion plumbing the murky depths of murder, revenge and retribution'. Therese is trapped in a loveless marriage to Madame Raquin's sickly son, Camille. Seduced by his best friend, Laurent, she conspires with him to murder her husband. Haunted by guilt and by the pervasive presence of Madame Raquin, who has suffered a debilitating stroke, the lovers' passion turns to mutual loathing...First staged in Chichester in 1990, Nicholas Wright's brilliant dramatisation of "Therese Raquin" receives its London premiere at the National Theatre in the 900-seat Lyttelton. It is directed by Marianne Elliott, whose recent staging there of "The Pillars of the Community" drew universal praise.