SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewThérèse Raquin
|
"Born in the heat of North African plains Buried alive in this shop My mother's blood hot in my veins Buried alive in this horrible shop. . . " — Thérèse |
Ben Lewis as Laurent, Julie Atherton as Thérèse and Tara Hugo as Mme Raquin (Photo: Darren Bell) |
Nona Shepphard's "radical adaptation" sets up the tortured soul of Thérèse Raquin (Julie Atherton) trapped by her aunt into marrying her cousin, the ineffectual and sickly Camille (Jeremy Legat). For what seems a very long time in the first act, Thérèse sits looking bored with her existence. She is like a woman with all the happiness drained out of her. This is until she falls for Camille's childhood friend, the artist Laurent (Ben Lewis) and embarks on a destructive but passionate love affair. The clarity of the singing of the verse means that we do not miss any of Zola's fine detail as to the characters and their motives.
Running through this nineteenth century novel are the physical details of what makes us behave the way we do, the physiological connections and the inevitability of heredity, in accordance with Zola belonging the School of Naturalism and influenced by Charles Darwin's ideas on evolution. The production starts with "Sang et nerfs", "Blood and Nerves", and later to describe the seemingly quiet Thérèse the Chorus contrasts this quietude with the physical activity of all our bodies. "The heart is beating/Eyes are feasting/Blood is pumping/Sweat is trickling/Breath is quickening/Muscles are quivering/Lust is pricking/Synapses firing/Jumping across the gap/Chemical electrical chemical/Messages are running up and down the spinal cord/To and from the brain."
Dominating the story of Thérèse and her lover is the figure of Madame Raquin (Tara Hugo) "She took me in and she brought me up/Saved me from want but she smothered my life/Refined me and dried me so I lied how I lied." This is Thérèse's description of the two pronged fork of her adoptive mother/aunt/mother in law. Tara Hugo sings the part of the manipulative mother with great skill, her pale and cool detachment placing her apart from others but spoiling the petulant Camille.
Julie Atherton in a performance a million miles away from her lead in Avenue Q, except of course for her beautiful voice, is the morose, disapproving Thérèse holed up in the haberdashery shop and victim of her passionate nature. Ben Lewis has a strong voice and physical presence as shirtless throughout, his muscular arms and build contrast with the weedy Camille.
There are moments of delightful staging, one where when Laurent goes to the morgue and the chorus hold up white sheets for Laurent to look under, one by one, and see the heads of the bloated, drowned bodies in his feigned search for Camille's body. There is the social game of dominoes, with Madame Raquin presiding over the guests with the chanting of the numbers in archaic form, "deuce-ace, double-deuce. . . four death. . .devil four" with a rhythmic, atmospheric clacking of the domino tiles.
This unusual production needs to be seen!
After a hiatus, the pub downstairs has reopened and the Box Office has a new space on the ground floor.
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
| Thérèse Raquin
Written by Emile Zola Music by Craig Adams Book and lyrics by Nona Shepphard Adapted and directed by Nona Shepphard Starring: Julie Atherton, Tara Hugo, Ben Lewis, Jeremy Legat With: Christopher Logan, James Simpson, Lila Clements, Gary Tushaw, Matt Willman, Claire Greenway, Ellie Kirk, Verity Quade Musical Director: Craig Adams Musical Supervisor: James Simpson Designed by Laura Cordery Sound: Max Pappenheim Lighting: Neil Fraser Running time: Two hours with an interval Box Office: 0844 847 1652 Booking to 19th April 2014 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 28th March 2014 performance at the Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED (Tube: Earls Court) |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email . . . also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. |
